Community dialog key to PNP’s success

The active support of the citizenry is indispensable in preventing and controlling crimes, maintaining peace and order, and ensuring public safety and internal security.

This was the message imparted by the Philippine National Police at the “PNP Forum” organized by the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC), which I was able to attend during my recent official visit to Manila.

With Philippine National Police spokesperson Benigno Durana Jr.

The MOPC invited PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde as keynote speaker for the forum. Unfortunately, the PNP chief’s mother passed away the day before the event, so he sent PNP spokesperson Senior Superintendent Benigno “Bong” Durana Jr. to represent him.

Durana — who has a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of the Philippines and was cum laude of the PMA Maringal Class of 1988 — reported on the significant headway the police organization has been making in many aspects of its mission to the audience composed of business groups and members of the diplomatic circle.

Saudi Arabian Embassy’s Mohammed Alrifal and Canadian Ambassador John Holmes.

According to Durana, the first two years of the Duterte administration registered a 20.4-percent dip in the total crime volume compared to the two-year period covering July 2014 to June 2016, with over P23-billion worth of drugs (as of June 2018) also recovered under the current administration’s war against illegal drugs.

Strengthened public engagement is one of the simplified points of the PNP’s action agenda ever since Albayalde assumed office. Part of the communication strategy is to hold more regular dialogues, conduct more public forums and interact with media — activities that are consistent with the PNP’s policy of transparency and upholding the right of the public to information.

French Ambassador Nicolas Galey with Korean Ambassador Han Dong-Man and Senior Consul Seong Ki-Joo.

Durana also shared a Pulse Asia survey that came out on the day of the President’s State of the Nation Address showing that majority of Filipinos consider the war against illegal drugs as the most important achievement of the Duterte administration.

As Federation of Philippine Industries chairman Jess Arranza noted, the government’s success in its war on drugs and criminality could be part of the reason why the economy of the Philippines is considered as one of the fastest growing in Asia.

MVP Group’s Mike Toledo and MOPC’s Eric Canoy.