Navotas police chief winning hearts, minds through ‘sopas’

Chicken Soup for the Soul was a sure hit among the millions who have read the book.

Superintendent Genesis "Gene" Tolejano, Navotas police chief, may have read the bestseller, but it is another type of chicken soup he is using, the real thing in fact, to do something quixotic given the not so pleasant image the police has presented itself to be before the public.

Tolejano said he wants to change the public’s perception of the police, the people’s protectors and servants, and he is doing this through the ‘sopas’ approach.

Really, a tough job, Tolejano admits of trying to change a tainted image.

For the past two months, the young police chief, with his men in tow, has carried on with a modest feeding program for street children in this progressive fishing town as a way of getting closer to the people.

"I want our police to win the people over to their side. I think it’s about time we reverse the approach," Tolejano said.

Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco has commended Tolejano in this initiative, saying he will be 100 percent behind his police chief, and anyone for that matter, in this kind of unselfish service to the less fortunate in the community.

Tolejano told The STAR that the program is being financed by a good friend he met via the Internet. He said the program’s benefactor, a former Christian now a Roman Catholic Filipino living in Texas for the last 10 years as an immigrant, has requested not to be named.

"I’m just returning a favor, a blessing from the Lord. I am just an instrument," Tolejano said quoting his benefactor.

The officer said the benefactor offered to financially support Tolejano’s little project after he learned about Tolejano’s distributing copies of the Holy Bible to policemen of the Northern Police district Office (NPDO) last year.

Since making the first attempt in October this year at the Navotas police station with only P2,000, it has grown bigger enabling them to feed the hungry at least once a month to be conducted one at a time in each of the town’s 14 barangays, Tolejano said.

The latest was made yesterday in North Bay Boulevard South (NBBS) with some 300 children from indigent families partaking of a perky, nutritious chicken soup generously laced with vegetables and puto. "Hindi basta lugaw," Tolejano emphasized adding that he sought the advice of the town nutrition council for a really healthy and nutritious fare. He said the police want the people to really come to them in trust and with respect. But the police, he said must do their job with honesty and sincerity.