P’sinan PNP Hurdles Test for Millennium Challenge Corp.

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

LINGAYEN – The provincial police office (PPO) based here has passed recently with flying colors the evaluation made by the national police headquarter on the Integrated Transformation Program – Performance Governance System (ITP-PGS).

POLICE CART – San Carlos City Police Chief Supt. Rodolfo Castro (2^nd from Left) explains his impressions on the Community Assistance Referral Team (CART) to Police Regional Office-1  Chief Directorial Staff Marlou Chan (extreme left), PRO-1 Director Moro Virgilio Lazo and Acting Police Provincial Director of Pangasinan Sr. Supt. Sterling Raymund Blanco (3^rd, 4^th from left, respectively).

ITP-PGS is where six government agencies that include the Philippine National Police are scored by selected evaluators on good governance through the Balance Score Card (BSC) system as required by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) – a United State assistance funding body.

”We have just passed the tough “initiation stage”,” Sr. Supt. Sterling Raymund Blanco, Pangasinan PPO’s acting director, quipped when asked about the March 4 evaluation he and his top brass attended at the national police office in Manila .

BSC is a quantifiable tool in measuring accomplishment and various plans and programs of the organization with a vision of being a highly capable, effective, credible government body.

A source, who asked anonymity, at the PPO credited the stewardship of Police Region Office-1 (PRO-1) Chief Directorial Staff Sr. Supt. Marlou C. Chan, Blanco’s predecessor here, who was responsible in coaching the brass in their preparation for the evaluation by the Technical Working Group (TWG) headed by Deputy Director Marcelo Garbo, Jr. at the PNP Headquarter.

“One of the laudable measures implemented by the PPO before the prying eyes of the TWG was the police cart, a mobile community assistance referral team assigned in each police stations in Pangasinan, initiated by Chan and the Police Patrol 101, piloted in the province, conceptualized by Chan and former Police Regional Office-1 Director Ricardo Marquez.

The PPO’s brass, according to Blanco, will be returning in Manila for the next test called “compliance”, and if it passes it will return for the final evaluation called “proficiency stage” of the ITP-PGS.

The source said these tests are not as tough as the “initiative test” Blanco and the brass attended recently.

PNP chief Director Allan Purisima warned recently PPO directors and chiefs of major cities around the country to hurdle the “initiative stage” in two try otherwise they would be sacked from their post.

The latest victim of this warning from Purisima was the chief of police of Legazpi City.

Since November 24 last year, 53 PNP offices/units have passed the PGS initiated status.

The PGS-Certification is led by Purisima, Garbo, and the PNP Center for Police Strategy Management’s office. They are aided by the National Advisory Council for Peace, Transformation, and Development, PNP-TWG, and others