LUCENA CITY—Over 10,000 community volunteers from Quezon province have banded, calling themselves Provincial Union of Leaders against Illegalities (Puli) to help the police and local government authorities to combat various crimes and preserve peace and order in the entire province.
Quezon Gov. David Suarez, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) police regional director Mau Aplasca and police provincial acting director Roderick Armamento, along with Sangguniang Panglalawigan members Claro Talaga Jr., Ferdinand Talabong, Vincent Dominic Reyes, Vicente Salumbides and Jose Erwin Esguerra, and the 41 police chiefs of the province, led in the mass oath-taking ceremony during the launching of Puli on Wednesday at the jam-packed Quezon Convention Center here.
“We need ordinary heroes who are ever ready to help to keep the peace and order in our communities and we are in this together for the sake of our province,” Suarez told the green-clad participants who came from all over the 39 towns and two cities of the province.
Suarez exhorted them to live the spirit of Quezon’s first provincial hero, Apolinario de la Cruz, popularly known as Hermano Puli, who died for his heroic principles and beliefs during the Spanish colonial occupation of the country.
It was during the 176th death-anniversary celebration of Puli in November 30 when Suarez disclosed he would be launching a new group of not less than 10,000 volunteers with the acronym of Puli after the legendary hero, who founded the religious movement called Cofradia de San Jose and whose death and heroism inspired the three Filipino martyred priests Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora and other national heroes led by Jose Rizal that led to the Philippine revolution against Spanish tyranny in 1898.
Expressing awe at the jampacked convention center almost filled to the rafters by throngs of community volunteers banding together for the cause of peace and order in Quezon, Aplasca exhorted the participants to recover their sense of nationalism and patriotism and to return to the “correct concept of family,” where respect for parents and the authority is first inculcated.
Stressing that dysfunctional families are usually the main source of criminal behavior, Aplasca cited the four major points that promote peace and order for the country: nationalism and patriotism, respect for authority, vigilance and correct concept of family.
He challenged Puli volunteers “to light your candle to brighten Quezon province” as he asked them to support the police Community Mobilization Project (CMP), which aims to have drug-free community, decreasing or absence of crimes, insurgency-free and absence of threat of terrorism at the barangay level.
Suarez said Puli volunteers will move in support of the police CMP. He said this coming January, he will ask the various municipal police chiefs to coordinate with Puli volunteers to come up with a concrete action plan against all forms of criminalities, specifically illegal drugs, insurgency, illegal gambling, illegal logging and other illegalities at the grassroots community level.
Under the CMP, community volunteers have to assist in law enforcement, support in internal security, disaster preparedness and response, environmental protection and conduct of crime prevention, awareness and education and other public information drives.
Armamento showed in a slide presentation the result of the police operation of Project the Tokhang since it started last year to the present. It showed 25,100 drug surrenderers—23,218 drug users and 1,502 pushers and 14,750 visited houses.
Out of 1,242 barangays of the province, 627 are affected, 477 have been cleared of drugs and 150 remain to have drug affectation.
The police declared five drug-cleared municipalities in the province—Plaridel, Pitogo, Macalelon, Gen. Luna and Quezon.
He urged Puli volunteers to enlist in CMP activities, to be always aware and vigilant of suspicious activities at the barangay level saying that “if there is active community mobilization, the siege in Marawi would not have happened.”
The launching was capped by the mass oath-taking led by Suarez, Aplasca, Armamento and the 41 police chiefs swearing that, as Puli members, they “voluntarily offer their selves for beneficial activities, value life and future of every youth, support the municipal and provincial governments to fight illegal acts that destroy the environment and life of every citizen and commit to live the principles of Hermano Puli for the realization of their own progress and the entire country.”
Image credits: John Bello