Monday, October 09, 2006 Women who make peace at home, elsewhere By Gwenmarie Fatima G. Reyes STC Mass Communications Student
THEY are wives, mothers and peacemakers. Beyond doing the household chores society typically assigns to women, they have also learned to be good at fighting crime. They are the women in blue—tough, disciplined and dedicated.
They undergo the same training as their male colleagues, which is four years of college and six months of boot camp training to become police officers. They do it all: standing at attention for hours, baking under the sun, doing push-ups and practicing self-defense.
As of this year, women compose nearly nine percent of the total police force, according to the PNP website.
PO3 Gay Servilla, 38, wife and mother, has been doing her job for 10 years now. The only woman in the Liloan Police Station, she handles the Women’s Desk.
Most of her cases concern domestic violence and juvenile delinquency. She is also assigned in finance. She runs to the courts for court hearings and to the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the assistance of victims in need.
Servilla says she really likes her job, and not just because of her earnings. She enjoys what she does. “Bisag naa’y mga adlaw daghan kog trabahuon, nalingaw raman pud ko. Maanad ra ka basta ganahan ka sa imong gitrabaho (Even if there are days I have so much to do, I find this fun. You get used to the workload, if you really like your work).”
Servilla says she balances her time between her family and her job, by considering her family as her inspiration. Her husband is a fellow officer of the Liloan Police Station; they are happy with their three children.
Another woman who has also been on duty for 10 years is PO3 Fe Altubar, 35, who has been married for eight years. A policewoman at the Cebu City Police Office, she is assigned to the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch. She handles administrative work, foreign liaison work and investigation.
She was an assistant instructor for trainees at the Police National Commission Office for about seven years. After graduating with a degree in commerce, Altubar took up six months of police training.
“Dili man gyud ni mao akong gipursue nga kurso. Wa gyud sa akong huna-huna magpulis (This isn’t what my original course prepared me for. It was not in my plans to join the police),” she said.
But after she passed the examination, she took the job because she believes in protecting people—even if it means enduring some fear when she faces the risks on the job.
“You do get used to the situation. You will get into the habit,” she said.
Just like other working women, Servilla and Altubar experience difficulties, frustrations and disappointments, both in work and at home. They just take them as challenges or part of their continuing training. “If you really like the course, go for it,” said Servilla. “Wala’y kuyaw basta ganahan dyud ka (You don’t really feel the danger if you really love what you’ve chosen).”
