I LIKE very much the idea of reassigning police officers to their hometowns. This is being effected by Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief General Camilo Cascolan under the agency’s localization program. With good reason, I am pretty sure this program will have a positive effect on the peace and order drive once the program is in place. (Ang isang pulis mahihiyang gumawa ng kalokohan sa sariling bayan, dahil kilala siya at kilala niya ang halos ng lahat). Cascolan said this program is being met with great approval from the corps. They will be with their spouses and expectedly they will be happy and do their jobs better, he added. Correct!

There’s a saying when it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Before the passage of the law creating the PNP, the members of police corps were appointed by the town/city mayor. It was also the mayor who assigned ranks, promotions or demotions. There was no need for a college or even a high school diploma. Cops weren’t required to undergo civil service examination. Most mayors during those years only ask if the applicant already fired a gun and knows how to shoot. Those were the days when everyone knows everyone in town. The urban areas and the countrysides enjoyed the tranquility. Until a certain general came up a study of integrating all police forces and bus the Philippine Constabulary Integrated National Police (PC-INP). Later, the Philippine Constabulary was dissolved and it ended finally as PNP.

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I was still in my shorts and the countryside was far from peaceful. Huk Supremo Luis Taruc and bands of dissidents were all over Central Luzon. The president, the late Ramon Magsaysay. The town mayor of Porac was Higinio Gopez and the town police chief was my father. With no more than cops were responsible for maintaining peace and order. Gopez handpicked my father because he was a USAFFE soldier who fought in Bataan. He was there in Bataan with fellow soldiers holding fort. He was captured and was one of the thousands who endured the war.

Retro: When war broke out, my father was recruited in the USAFFE and was assigned to Bataan. Like many other Filipino soldiers, they fought side by side with the American GIs. Their ranks decimated and were no match against the invading forces. General Douglas MacArthur together with President Manuel L. Quezon left via submarine and when he reached Australia he declared: "I shall return." He returned as he promised but only after three years when the country was already in shambles and our fighting forces were captured and many killed. Luckily enough, despite malaria, my father survived but was captured and was one of the thousands who endured the death march. He was able to escape in Lubao.