DAVAO CITY — The Police Regional Office in Region 11 (PRO-11) has a new regional director with the retirement of Chief Supt. Manuel Gaerlan on Thursday afternoon.
Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Oscar Albayalde installed Chief Supt. Marcelo Morales, former regional director of PRO-12 based General Santos City.
Before Morales led PRO-12, he was assigned as Deputy Regional Director of PRO-11 under Gaerlan in 2016 up to the early months of 2017.
In his inaugural speech, Morales said he was honored to be chosen as the new police director of the Davao Region and that he will continue the initiatives of Gaerlan–especially in the fight against criminality and illegal drugs.
He said he will also closely monitor the areas that are potential nesting grounds of extremists out to create trouble and terrorize the region.
“I will ensure that we will have a more than adequate security measures in the region,” he said.
Morales also warned the scalawags in the police organization to leave the service “while they can enjoy their lives than facing punishment with their illegal activities.”
“First thing to do is to meet all my officers and commanders so that we can review the programs being done here and to assess how it can be more improved,” Morales said in an interview with local reporters.
Morales said he will also assess the performance of the commanders and will implement a revamp if needed.
Albayalde said Morales was chosen based on the senior officers’ board and oversight committee, or the Board of Generals, which deliberates on the movement of ground personnel.
“We have seen that Gen. Morales has a good performance in the previous region and at the same time he was a former (official) assigned in Davao. It’s really very important that the next director is not new to the President, ” he added, referring to President Rodrigo Duterte, this city’s former mayor.
Just like his orders with other regional directors, Albayalde said his order to Morales is to “work and work and do what is proper.”
On the other hand, Gaerlan said he was confident leaving with significant accomplishments during his stint as PRO-11 director.
Under his leadership, PRO-11 recorded decreasing crime rates, from 58% in 2015 to 42% in 2016, furthering going down to 31% in 2017.
Gaerlan said the effort of the police and the security sector to bring down crime has led to a better economy.
Based on the figures released by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), Gaerlan said the regional economy grew by 9.5 percent in 2016 and 10.9 percent in 2017, making it the second fastest region in the country in terms of growth.
Recent data of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) also showed that tourist arrivals in the Davao region increased from three million to 3.2 million in 2017. (Rhoda Grace Saron and Armando Fenequito, Jr./PNA)
