CAMP NAKAR, Lucena City-—As he returns home to his own city as the top policeman in Quezon province, he has a mouthful to say in implementing and maintaining peace and order for the police chiefs in 39 towns and two cities in the province.
“Always observe the code of ethical standards, have teamwork and coordination in any police operations, avoid jealousy and intrigue, provide easy access to the community you serve, accomplish your task with passion and not only for compliance and always render service with a smile,” Police Senior Supt. Roderick Armamento, newly installed acting police provincial director, told the seated police chiefs at the conference hall here in mixed Filipino and English during the turnover of the command ceremony on Thursday.
He replaced Senior Supt. Antonio Yarra, who served his mandate at the Quezon Police Provincial Office (QPPO) for only over four months since his assumption in July. The change of command ceremony was presided by Police Senior Supt. Timoteo Pacleb, deputy regional director for administration in Calabarzon.
Armamento said his marching order from Police Director Gen. Ronald M. dela Rosa is to focus on high-value criminal targets, especially on illegal drugs, and sternly reminded the police chiefs: “Huwag na huwag kayong papatol sa droga,” said Armamento, who, in his late 20s, led vigorous antidrugs operations in 1996. Some 20 years ago, he led police intelligence and operations divisions of the Lucena City police station.
Now, at 48, Armamento is at the helm of the QPPO, and along with his 1,646 policemen in Quezon province, is faced with the problem of dealing with 39,000 drug dependents in 627 drug-affected barangays out of the 1,242 barangays in the whole province. They are also saddled with the responsibility of rehabilitating 13,670 drug users and 1,413 drug pushers in the province who have voluntarily surrendered to the police from July up to last month.
On November 22 the police bagged Sahjid Alcala, son of Cerilo Alcala, in a drug buy-bust operation in Barangay Balubal, Sariaya town. Sahjid was among five other suspects who are supposedly members of the reported Alcala Drug Group spearheaded by the father-son tandem.
Confiscated from Sahjid were 62.3 grams of shabu, estimated to be worth P115,255 and drug paraphelnalia at his home in Phase 2, Woodlanes Estates.
The father and son surrendered to the Lucena City police on August 14, accompanied by Athel’s brother, Quezon Congressman Vicente Alcala, and nephew Lucena City Mayor Roderick Alcala.
Earlier in September, Athel’s wife and daughter were arrested in a police buy-bust operation.
That month the police began to roll out a new antidrugs campaign called United Stand Against Dangerous Drugs (USAD), which, it said, involves multisectoral participation and complements the police’s Project Double Barrel and “Oplan Tokhang” to suppress the drug problem in the Province. Quezon Third District provincial Board Member Vincent Dominic Reyes, Sangguniang Panglalawigan (SP) chairman on the Committee on Peace and Order, has led a committee hearing designed to come up with a comprehensive rehabilitation program for all drug dependents of the province and enable them to get back to normal life.
“We are trying to get all views from the different stakeholders on how we can come up with a rehabilitation program in our province to help in the effort of the national government under President Duterte in its fight against illegal drugs in the country,” Reyes said at the Bulwagang Kalilayan here during the SP committee hearing.
On October 26, also in the same venue, a drug summit was held in which USAD was formally launched and participants from various sectors—Philippine National Police, military, non-governmental organizations and officials of the provincial government, led by Gov. David Suarez—signed a manifesto of commitment and support for the antidrug program.
Suarez said USAD is a locally conceptualized program in Quezon and has not been adopted in any other province in the country.
“This program was conceptualized by Quezonians caring for their province to have a better future which is a clean, safe and drug-freeprovince,” Suarez said in his speech before the participants.
Juanito Diaz, executive assistant to Suarez, suggested all the peace-and-order councils in every municipality of the province should adopt USAD and come up with their own budget for its antidrugs rehabilitation programs and activities. “The challenge is on the categorization of the drug surrenderees, which could not all be committed to a drug-rehabilitation center so paramenters are needed in the rehabilitation program,” Diaz said, explaining some drug dependents may only need to do community service, or undergo counselling and need not be committed to a rehabilitation center.
He said the provincial government plans to set up a rehabilitation center for drug dependents in a 3-hectare lot in Calauag town.
Diaz also expressed the view antidrug, activities and rehabilitation program for the province should reactivate and capacitate Barangay Against Drug Abuse Council as it is more familiar of the drug problems in the barangay level. Lionel Dalope, Quezon provincial director of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, said the functionality of any antidrugs abuse council should go down to the barangay level and each town should have its own rehabilitation center to deal with the magnitude of the drug-abuse problem in Quezon.
The provincial government plans to allocate funds for the establishment of two drug-rehabilitations centers for drug dependents—one in Calauag town and the other between Lucena and Tayabas cities.
Armamento expressed elation 39 barangays in Pitogo town were recently declared drug-free by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, saying barangay drug-clearing operations will be sustained by the police so that all the barangays in the whole province will finally be declared “drug-free.”
Image credits: John Bello