Cagayan GROs get training as police agents

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan — Some 150 guest relations officers (GROs) working in 85 nightclubs and cocktail lounges here underwent over the weekend an anti-criminality seminar designed to train them as police agents.

Superintendent Rodrigo de Gracia, Cagayan police director, said nightclub workers could be effective partners of law enforcers in curbing and solving crimes in the province.

"We taught them techniques how to elicit confession from customers who could be involved in crimes," said De Gracia, who was adjudged the best provincial police director for 2003.

De Gracia, a lawyer, has been known for his innovative "Police Tipster Project," which has helped solve high-profile crimes here.

The latest was the capture of the suspected leader of the "Ibus gang," which had preyed on a number of passenger buses plying the Aparri-Tuguegarao City route.

"Involving them (GROs) in some innovations in solving social ills that plague our community today is giving them a chance to regain from the seemingly deteriorating reputation of women working at night," said De Gracia, a member of Philippine Military Academy Class 1982.

On the lighter side, a policewoman said GROs may also accept "spying jobs" from wives of philandering husbands.

A nightclub owner, however, quipped that GROs spying on husbands might reduce the income of their establishments.

The seminar, moderated by personnel of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the city health office, also gave the GROs a chance to realize their self-worth, making some of them cry.

"Na-realize ko na may malaki pala akong pananagutan sa aking sarili at sa ating lipunan kahit ganito lang ang aking trabaho (I realized that I have commitments to myself and society despite my work)," a participant said.

Asked if she would accept a "spying job" from wives, she remarked, "If the price is right."

Chief Superintendent Jefferson Soriano, Cagayan Valley police director, lauded the Cagayan police for initiating such a women-friendly program.

"The Philippine National Police takes cognizance of anything that is discriminatory against women’s needs and rights and acts on it correspondingly," he said.

Soriano added: "It is also the concern of the police to help elevate women’s work status regardless of their work environment and make sure that violence is not perpetrated against them."