New director of PRO-7 assumes office

CEBU, Philippines - Chief Superintendent Manuel Gaerlan formally assumed as the new director of Police Regional Office-7 yesterday during the ceremonial turnover at Camp Sergio Osmeña, replacing Chief Superintendent Prudencio Tom Bañas.

Acknowledging Bañas’ accomplishments, Gaerlan said he is inspired “to do more” for the region particularly by managing police operations under Patrol Plan 2030 and Oplan Lambat Sibat.

“I’ve observed that every time these two major thrusts are mentioned, our chiefs of police, city directors, and our provincial directors are somehow threatened, but I assure you, if you just study what these two programs are and perform your duty, I’m sure we can cope up with the requirements of the very energetic and very industrious chief national police,” he said.

Gaerlan also said that the coming months will be very busy for PRO-7 because of Christmas, Sinulog Festival, International Eucharistic Congress, and the May 2016 Elections.

He said to continue to implement in the region the strategic direction to make PNP a “highly capable, effective and credible police service by the year 2030.”

In his speech, Gaerlan expressed thanks for being given the opportunity to serve the people in Central Visayas.

He then congratulated Bañas for a successful stint as director of PRO-7 especially during Cebu’s hosting of various meetings for the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. 

“I had a firsthand experience to observe how team Cebu worked together to ensure the success of the event,” the new PRO-7 director said.

During the ceremony, Bañas also rendered a speech wherein he mentioned his accomplishments throughout his 18-month term in the region, especially the operations conducted under the campaign against illegal drugs and loose firearms.

He said that under his leadership, PRO-7 was able to seize around P307 million worth of suspected illegal drugs out of at least 4,892 police operations that resulted to the arrest of at least 6,679 persons.

He sat down as PRO-7 director in June 2014.

After relinquishing his post, Bañas was then given tokens from PRO-7 officials and a plaque of appreciation from the Bureau of Customs-7.

Bañas is now promoted to his next position as the director of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operations of northern Luzon. (FREEMAN)