PDEG beefs up anti-drug drive with 315 new operatives
A TOTAL of 315 newly-appointed officers of the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group on Tuesday started undergoing a 45-day training aimed at equipping them with all the knowledge they need as they help the force fight illegal drug trafficking and abuse.
Area Police Command-Northern Luzon deputy commander Major General Mafelino A. Bazar led the opening ceremony of the Drug Enforcement Course for the 316 anti-narcotics officers at the Regional Training Center 3 in Magalang, Pampanga.
PDEG director Colonel Dionisio B. Bartolome Jr. said that they want the 315 rookies to become morally upright cops who will not fall to any kind of temptations once they are already in the field; cops who can really shoot and hit the right target; cops who really understand what the law is; and cops who are physically and mentally fit to perform their day-to-day activities.
The students will undergo a 45-day capacitation program as they help boost the manpower strength of the unit tasked to lead the PNP’s continuing ‘war on drugs.’
The official said they wanted the seminar for the newly-minted cops who graduated as members of the Public Safety Basic Recruit Course Class Sandiglahi last October 10 in Daraga, Albay.
“When we realized that the new patrolmen were about to graduate. We started planning a program to capacitate them, in such a manner that they can be confident when they are deployed,” Col. Bartolome said.
The PDEG prepared several modules that the students had to learn. First is the function of the PDEG which was provided to them by division and section chiefs of the unit.
Second is the moral and spiritual enhancement of the rookies who will be receiving lectures from PDEG ‘life coaches’ to ensure that they are aligned and redirected in the right direction as law enforcement officers.
Third is the need for them to undergo psycho-social evaluation or a process that Col. Bartolome said ‘can aid us in planning for their proper placement and assignments.”
Fourth is Drug Enforcement Course followed by the required mandatory marksmanship training.
“Hopefully, they will be done before the year and I want all 315 of you to finish this 45-day capacitation program which forms part and parcel of our promise when we took the helm of the PNP-DEG leadership which is to institute organizational reforms through training and capacity building in line with the Chief PNP’s 5-point agenda particularly in personnel morale in welfare,” Col. Bartolome said.
The PDEG director said that in particular, he wants the 315 new anti-narcotics agents to possess the legal knowledge, appropriate skills, and right attitude before they embark on their respective tasks as drug law enforcers.
Col. Bartolome also thanked the PNP Director for Human Rights and Doctrine Development, Brigadier Gen. Ronald O. Lee for allowing the conduct of the unprogrammed capacitation program even when every PNP training had temporarily ceased because of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.
He also expressed his gratitude to PNP Training Service director, Brig. Gen. Radel DL Ramos for giving them the go-signal to conduct the course at the RTC 3 training ground in Pampanga.
