NEW Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group director, Brigadier General Raul L. Bargamento yesterday said that the noble action of his predecessor, Brig. Gen. Clifford B. Gairanod won’t be in vain as they continue to move forward and be true to their commitment as ‘Guardians of the Highways.’

A member of PNP Academy ‘Tagapagkalinga’ Class of 1991, Bargamento was the PNP Deputy Director for Plans until he suddenly was named as PNP-HPG director vice Gairanod who resigned his post after a viral video which showed his son hitting a new graduate of the PNP Executive Motorcycle Riding Course in what has found to be a Rider’s Badge pinning ceremony which went awry.

“Basically, I’m on a mission to put the PNP-HPG to its rightful pedestal after the incident that became viral. The actions of the former director Brig. Gen. Gairanod was very noble and honest, his sacrifice should not be in vain,” said the official.

“Indeed HPG was down during those times but it is not how many times you fall that counts, but it is how many times you rise up on occasion and be better rather than good. Thus, the PNP-HPG will continue to move on, move forward to better serve the Filipino nation through its mandate of keeping our highways safe and secured. There is only one way of moving forward to be better rather than good. That will be the goal of the PNP-HPG as we move along,” Brig. Gen. Bargamento told the Journal Group.

Bargamento is a known specialist in risk management and intelligence who is one of the few PNP generals who studied at the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Academy in Virginia, USA in 2002.

He used to be a deputy director for operations of the PNP Aviation Security Group and a deputy regional director for administration of the Police Regional Office 5 in Bicol region before being transferred to the PNP-DPL.

During his much younger years, Bargamento also became a head of the San Pablo City Police Station in Laguna and was once a member of the PNP contingent to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.

After graduation from PNPA, he was assigned to Region 9 in Western Mindanao region where he got his ‘baptism of fire.’

Brig. Gen. Bargamento found himself heading the PNP-HPG barely two months before his retirement from the police force this coming June 23 after Brig. Gen. Gairanod resigned his position in the wake of the viral video of his son.

Gairanod, a member of PNPA ‘Tagapaglunsad’ Class of 1993 resigned to pave the way for an impartial investigation of the incident which saw his son, Captain Clifton Gairanod hitting an underclassman-turned HPG Executive Motorcycle Riding Course graduate during a Rider’s Badge pinning ceremony in Sariaya, Quezon.

The former PNP-HPG director also ordered the relief and investigation of his son and the members of the HPG training team in the wake of the viral video.

“It pains me in the heart, I relieved my son and had him investigated together with our other training team,” Brig. Gen. Gairanod said.

Prior to that incident, PNP chief, General Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr. has commended Brig. Gen. Gairanod and his men for a job well done in fighting criminality and at the same time keeping the country’s major thoroughfares safe, true to their name ‘Guardians of the Highways.’