Mission for Versoza

FIRST, congratulations are in order for Deputy Director General Jesus Verzosa, a son of Pangasinan, for his appointment as the new Philippine National Police chief. He is the third Pangasinense to make the province proud by holding that position, following former President Fidel V. Ramos who headed the then Police Constabulary-Integrated National Police and just in recent years, Arturo Lomibao.

Now, after the applause and cheers, it is time to lay out his mission and sort out some serious police matters in the province.

Versoza takes the helm of the police force at a time when the province is burdened by a spate of killings of political personalities, which has in fact prompted the provincial police to hold last week, for the first time ever, a special training on security and protection for policemen and private bodyguards assigned to prominent people.

The severity of the murders, including the numerous other drive-by shootings of less-prominent and ordinary citizens, is not just in the cold-blooded killings per se, but the difficulty with which the police seem to face in completely resolving the cases. The best – or most notorious – example would be the case of the late San Carlos Mayor Julian Resuello.

To begin with, Versoza can strongly recommend – or better yet convince – the provincial government under Governor Amado Espino Jr., his senior ‘mistah’, to turn over the shotguns issued to barangay chairmen to the provincial PNP instead as this will instantly improve the capabilities of the local police stations. Add to that the .45 pistols issued in the 1st district by Rep. Arthur Celeste in 2006. The maintenance of peace and order, after all, is primarily a police matter.

And there is the equally pressing – and longstanding – problem of illegal gambling, which in turn breeds corruption and is more and more becoming a source for illegal drug trafficking.

Versoza’s promise that he will be frequenting the province to regularly check on police matters and make sure that the development of the Pangasinan PNP will be in the priority list, bodes well for the peace-loving Pangasinenses.

Speaking before the province’s mayors just before he was officially appointed, Versoza delivered a touching line to back up his commitment to Pangasinan: “We always want to go back to where we came from.”

Now wouldn’t our new PNP boss wish that he would be always coming back to a place where there is real peace and order?

We take that as a ‘wake-up’ for the Pangasinan PNP command.