WHEN I received an invitation to the launch of “CampuSaya” at Bacolod City National High School on October 22, I wasn’t particularly inclined to attend. I dismissed it as just another police gimmick.
A day later, another launch was held at Rafael B. Lacson Memorial High School in Talisay City, Negros Occidental. Still, the initiative hardly caught my attention — until I came across its tagline: “Resilient Minds, Kind Hearts, and Zero Hate.”
Curiosity got the better of me. I turned to Google to learn more about the program’s rationale and was surprised to discover that it was not an initiative of the Philippine National Police (PNP) National Headquarters.
Now, that intrigued me. I immediately contacted Lieutenant Joem Malong, chief of the Public Information Office of the Police Regional Office – Negros Island Region (PRO-NIR), to request a one-on-one interview with Regional Director Brigadier General Rudecindo “Doodie” Reales about CampuSaya.
Request granted. The interview was scheduled for Wednesday, October 28.
‘TATAY RIN AKO’
I opened with two straightforward questions: “Is CampuSaya exclusive to Negros?” and “Why?”
He smiled and answered, “Yes!”
Then came a simple yet profoundly touching statement that, to me, captured the very heart of the initiative: “Tatay rin ako.” (I am also a father).
He, too, is a father of schoolchildren.
For several seconds, I paused, absorbing the weight of those words. I understood his point. What followed was a free-flowing question-and-answer session that revealed the deeply personal inspiration behind CampuSaya.
RD Doodie disclosed that he personally conceptualized the initiative and coined its name, “CampuSaya,” from the phrase “Campus na Masaya” — a happy campus.
Interestingly, he said the concept had already taken shape in his mind even before his appointment as PRO-NIR regional director on September 7.
What prompted him to act?
A series of disturbing school shootings that had shaken communities across the country:
* Banga National High School in Banga, South Cotabato, on September 18 — three dead
* Ateneo de Zamboanga in Zamboanga City, on August 18 — two dead
* San Jose National High School in Tacloban City — three dead
These tragedies deeply troubled him.
Even while serving as chief of the Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agencies (SOSIA) under the PNP Civil Security Group (CSG), RD Doodie had already envisioned a program that could help prevent similar incidents. His eventual assignment to the Negros Island Region proved to be a blessing — perhaps even divine intervention — giving him the opportunity and the ideal setting to transform CampuSaya from a concept into reality.
FATHER’S INTUITION
RD Doodie emphasized that CampuSaya is not merely another police initiative designed to combat school bullying, prevent violence, and address security threats. At its core, it is something far more personal. It is a program born of a father’s intuition — a parent’s instinctive concern for the safety and well-being of children, heightened by the disturbing incidents unfolding on school campuses across the country.
A father’s intuition is often described as that immediate, almost instinctive feeling — a parent’s “sixth sense” — that something may be wrong with a child’s safety, emotional state, health, or general well-being. It is the kind of concern that needs no elaborate explanation. A father simply knows when something is troubling him about his children.
RD Doodie has translated that instinct into a concrete public safety initiative.
Anchored on three pillars — strengthening campus security, promoting students’ mental wellness, and fostering a culture of reporting — CampuSaya seeks not only to prevent violence but also to guide troubled young learners toward healthier, more productive lives.
As RD Doodie explained, the ultimate goal is simple: to bring smiles to students’ faces and transform every school campus in the NIR into a vibrant, happy, and safe learning environment.
Relatable. Commendable. And, more importantly, worth supporting.
IN WHAT WAY?
But how exactly will CampuSaya reach the estimated 1.4 million junior and senior high school students across Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor?
According to RD Doodie, PRO-NIR has assembled nearly 200 police officers with backgrounds in psychology, teaching, and guidance counseling to serve as lecturers and resource persons. These officers are equipped with instructional materials specifically designed to address bullying, prevent violence, and help students recognize and respond to potential threats.
Beyond classroom discussions, the program places strong emphasis on physical school security to prevent tragedies similar to the deadly shootings in Tacloban, Zamboanga, and Banga, South Cotabato.
The police officers serving as CampuSaya lecturers have until June next year to carry out the initiative, although an extension may be considered if necessary.
But CampuSaya does not end at the school gates. An equally important component extends the program into barangays through personnel from Police Community Relations Offices across the region.
Under this community-based initiative, parents will be taught how to recognize warning signs in their children’s behavior, whether at home or in their neighborhoods.
They will also learn how to establish open, effective, and meaningful communication with their children — an essential step in identifying emotional distress, behavioral changes, and potential problems before they escalate.
RD Doodie said the program will undergo assessments every three months to determine its effectiveness and identify areas needing improvement.
The initiative has already drawn encouraging reactions from education officials.
The Department of Education (DepEd) Schools Division of Negros Occidental praised CampuSaya as among the best initiatives introduced in partnership with the police.
Schools Division Superintendent Gladys Amylaine Sales described it as a promising school safety program strengthened by meaningful partnerships.
She emphasized that CampuSaya is timely, relevant, and responsive, particularly in encouraging learners and school personnel to remain vigilant, speak up, and report suspicious behavior or potential threats.
Likewise, Bacolod City National High School Principal Richard Gelangre lauded CampuSaya as an outstanding initiative promoting students’ psychosocial well-being.
Such endorsements suggest that CampuSaya is more than a well-packaged police campaign.
It has the potential to become a meaningful partnership among the police, schools, parents, and communities in protecting young learners.
HELICOPTER PARENT
The inspiration behind RD Doodie’s CampuSaya may not be extraordinary in itself, but it carries an unmistakably human touch.
Strip away the uniform, the stars, the rank, and the authority, and what remains is something remarkably ordinary. A father worried about his children.
In that sense, RD Doodie and countless other fathers are cut from the same cloth.
It is a powerful reminder that police officers, regardless of rank, share the same human emotions, vulnerabilities, fears, and aspirations as the people they are sworn to protect.
Why does this matter?
Consider this: If RD Doodie, the region’s highest-ranking police officer, feels deeply troubled by the threat of violence in schools, imagine the anxiety of ordinary fathers, especially those who are unemployed or struggling financially and have limited means to protect their children.
They may not command hundreds of police officers. They may not have the resources to initiate security programs. They may not even have the luxury of personally accompanying their children to and from school every day. But their fears are no less real. And their love for their children is certainly no less profound. That is what makes CampuSaya particularly meaningful.
By conceiving the program out of genuine concern for the safety of schoolchildren, RD Doodie has shown that he is more than a capable police general. He is also, in a sense, a helicopter parent — a father whose protective instincts extend beyond his own household. Of course, the term usually refers to parents who hover excessively over their children’s lives. But in RD Doodie’s case, that instinct has found a broader and more constructive purpose.
Rather than confining his concern to his own children, he wants to extend the same protection and care to young learners throughout the Negros Island Region.
And he is using the authority and resources of his office to make that happen.
At a time when school violence threatens not only campus security but also the dreams and futures of young Filipinos, such an initiative deserves serious attention and sustained support.
After all, no parent sends a child to school expecting that child to return home in a coffin. Schools should be places where young minds flourish, friendships blossom, and dreams take shape — not places where fear replaces learning and violence extinguishes promising lives.
CampuSaya may not eliminate every threat. No program can. But if it succeeds in preventing even one tragedy, saving even one young life, or helping even one troubled student find hope again, it will have achieved something immeasurably valuable.
And that brings me back to those three simple words RD Doodie uttered during our interview: “Tatay rin ako.”
Perhaps that is precisely what makes CampuSaya different. It was conceived not merely with the mind of a police general, but with the heart of a father. For that, the Negros Island Region has good reason to welcome RD Doodie and his CampuSaya initiative.
The challenge now is to ensure that this father’s intuition translates into lasting protection for every child it seeks to reach. Because a truly happy campus is not simply one where students can smile — it is one where parents can send their children to school without fear./PN
