PNP officer named to UN mission Liberia

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police (PNP) has sent one of its senior officers, Police Senior Superintendent Cesar Hawthorne Binag, as Deputy Police Commissioner in the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) to assist in the peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in that country. 

In his pre-departure call, Binag was reminded by PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima to showcase to the international community an image of a highly capable, effective and credible police force worthy of emulation and respect.

As Deputy Commissioner of the UN Police in Liberia, Binag will lead various programs on capability building, institutional development and human resource management, and will be generally responsible for the operational and managerial oversight of the UN police component’s activities.

A member of the Philippine Military Academy Hinirang Class of 1987, Binag is a veteran UN peacekeeper, having served in the Philippine contingent to the UN Transitory Administration in Cambodia from 1993 to 1994 which him a UN Peace Medal. Prior to his appointment to UNMIL, Binag served as the senior executive assistant to former PNP chief Nicanor Bartolome.

Among the other positions he has held at the PNP were chief of staff of the Program Management Office, the unit primarily tasked to oversee the transformation program of the PNP; commandant of cadets of the Philippine National Police Academy; and member of the Special Action Force, the elite counter-terrorist unit of the PNP, where he served in combat duty in insurgent infested areas like the Sierra Madre, Bulacan, Quezon, Nueva Ecija, Masbate, and Negros and Mindoro.

Binag brings to the mission varied management, administrative and operational experiences, further enriched by his Master in Public Policy and Management and Master in Public Administration degrees which he obtained from the Kennedy School of Government in Harvard. He also holds a Master in Development Management degree from the Asian Institute of Management.

Binag is only the second PNP officer given a management level post in any UN police assignment, the first being retired Police Director Rodolfo Tor who served as UN Police Commissioner in East Timor.