By Hilda Austria/PNA
LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — Police Senior Inspector Jairilyn Camangian, chief of the Women and Children Protection Desk (WCPD) and Family Juvenile Gender and Development (FJGAD) of the Pangasinan Police Provincial Office (PPO), was awarded Monday as one of the 10 most outstanding policewomen of the Philippines this year.
“I feel proud and honored not only for myself but for all the people who have been my inspiration in doing the work I love the most. They are my family, all my police community relations branch family, Pangasinan PPO, and everyone else. The people who have been supporting and working with us in all our initiated programs, projects and activities,” Camangian said in an interview Tuesday.
Camangian has been serving in the Philippine National Police (PNP) for 14 years already, and has initiated programs and projects that are useful, meaningful, and have long term impact to the community.
One of her initiated programs is the Empowerment of Women against Violence and Abuse (EVA) through gender responsive advocacy.
“Camangian was the brainchild of the first ever association of policewomen in Pangasinan PPO. She, as women’s right advocate, was able to organize the first organization of the women in the police service of Pangasinan PPO on November 17, 2016 and was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 25, 2017,” the PPO said.
It added the primary objective of the organization is the promotion of women’s rights and empowerment not only within the organization, but also women in the community especially in depressed areas and the marginalized sector.
The project EVA provided financial assistance to the policemen and women in the province who are in need, while it also encouraged participation of policewomen in various activities, such as sportsfest and conventions, Camangian said.
“The Pangasinan PPO EVA Women Summit, induction of the EVA officers/advisers and teambuilding activity were attended by more or less 328 policewomen of Pangasinan PPO. This gave the opportunity to all women in the police service of Pangasinan PPO to enhance their knowledge on laws protecting women and strengthen the working relationship, camaraderie and sisterhood among the participants,” she added.
Camangian also initiated, mobilized, and conducted the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, an anti-illegal drugs prevention campaign exclusively for the Grades V and VI pupils of public schools in the province conducted by the DARE-trained personnel of PPO.
“Values formation was the very core of the curriculum thus, enabling the students to be effective models for their peer group to avoid alcohol, cigarette, drugs and violence. It was composed of 17 sessions of classroom instruction for almost five months. This is in line with the Double Barrel anti-illegal drug campaign of the PNP under anti-illegal prevention program,” she added.
Among her other accomplishments is organizing the first batch of beneficiaries of Pangasinan PPO’s Batang Mahirap, Edukasyon Mo Sagot Ko. It started with one beneficiary in 2014 to 16 beneficiaries at present with the support of former Acting Provincial Director, Senior Supt. Ronald Oliver Lee.
“The program aimed to give inspiration to the poor but deserving students by providing them their school supplies and monthly allowance until they finish their primary and secondary education. This is in line with the crime prevention program and impact project of the PNP,” Camangian added.
The outstanding Pangasinense policewoman is also active in many other programs and activities of the PPO, such as bloodletting, lectures on career enhancement, campaign against illegal drugs, partnership with other government agencies such as the Department of Education for project DARE, among others.
Camangian, 41, is married to Staff Sergeant Francis Camangian of the Philippine Air Force and a mother to 18-year-old Jay-Lyn Frances. She is also a licensed teacher and criminologist.
The awarding was held at the PNP national headquarters in Quezon City where Camangian received PHP100,000 cash and firearms from Armscor.
