ILOILO City – Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Camilo Cascolan hopes that police officers reassigned in their hometowns would perform better.
“Mas maayo mag–serbisyo kun lapit ka sa imo pamilya nga nagahatag sa aton sang kabaskog. We know this makes the police more effective,” Cascolan said during his recent visit here.
In Western Visayas, 10 personnel of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) are now working closer to home. Their application for the PNP’s localization program was approved.
They were among the 2,222 police personnel who were initially approved to take part in the program dubbed as “Localization of Assignments.”
Cascolan said the movement of personnel initially covers inter-regional reassignment to their hometowns and places of permanent residence “to give them a strong sense of ownership of their own locality and, in the process, induce better performance.”
He added that the move ensures that “the mass movement will not create a void in the personnel complement of these regional offices.”
In pushing for this initiative, Cascolan cited Section 63 of the Republic Act 8551 or the PNP Reform and Reorganization Act of 1998, which states that police personnel with the rank of patrolwoman or patrolman up to police executive master sergeant shall be assigned to the city and municipality of their recruitment and/or place of residence, or if not possible, to the municipality, province or regions closest to his residence.
For his part, Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan, PRO-6 director, hopes that these personnel will perform well since they are serving to their hometown.
“This would lift the morale of our personnel considering they’d be serving their hometowns,” Pamuspusan said.
The region’s top cop earlier said 83 policemen initially applied for the localization program.
Only 10 were approved for now./PN
