by Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA
MANILA — Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said the year 2018 proved to be a year of both great challenge and success for the PNP.
“The greatest achievement of the year is best quantified in real numbers in terms of continuing significant decline of crime incidents, swift solution of most sensational cases and marked improvement in our capability to prevent and solve crime with greater discipline, professionalism and dedication in the ranks,” Albayalde said in his New Year’s message sent to reporters.
Albayalde, the country’s 22nd PNP chief, who replaced Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa who retired last April, admitted that the PNP continued to struggle through the institutional and social obstacles that often got in the way of law enforcement and public safety mission.
“The mission at hand was to sustain the gains of our campaign against illegal drugs and ‘sensitising’ other stakeholders within and outside of government to fully recognize the destructive effects on the lives of drug users and their families, including the complexities brought by this problem to the larger picture of criminality and lawlessness,” the PNP Chief said.
But to meet the problem head-on, we had to break the wall of social indifference in people’s attitude towards the problem and at the same time untangle the web of corruption that allowed this situation to pervade through the years,” he noted.
Albayalde, who is cum laude of the PMA Sinagtala Class of 1986, has found an effective leadership with the full support of national government.
The PNP, he said, went full steam in this national crusade against the three-headed hydra of crime, drugs and corruption in the one whole of nation campaign, enlisting inter-agency and multi-sectoral support and advocacy.
“The popular empirical expression of safety and security among our people manifested positive change in the quality of life for a large plurality of Filipinos consistent with President Duterte’s vision of a “comfortable life for all,” said Albayalde, who will be retiring on November 8, 2019 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 56.
