CABANATUAN CITY – Marilou Vallarta, 43, of Barangay Bangad here weeps as her eldest dances, along with 244 classmates, a medley of fast new songs – including Christmas tunes – under the glaring sun at the parade ground of the Philippine Public Safety College’s Regional Training Center in Sto. Nino in Magalang, Pampanga Saturday.
Her son, Machael, is a new Police Officer 1 under Masigasig (Maaasahan sa Isang Gawain at Inatang na Gampanin) Class 2013-02 after surviving a year training in, as an officer described, “living in the nightmares of the beast barracks” where “their senior officers made every second of their existence a living hell.”
“Napakabigat ng pinagdaanan ng anak ko,” Vallarta said even as she anticipated the three-day break of her son before proceeding to his assignment. “Masaya dahil hindi ko sukat akalain na magiging pulis ang aking anak,” Vallarta said.
Vallarta was aware of the controversies that rock the police these days but she believes her son would remain steadfast to the values he learned from their home and trainings gained from the college. “Kilala ko ang anak ko, magiging mabuti siyang alagad ng batas,” she added.
PO1 Medoly Mon, the lone female graduate of the training, admitted having a hard time coping in an atmosphere of having all males on the ground. “Nahirapan talaga ako sa first one month,” she said, adding she had to undergo everything, especially physical exercises, that her male co-trainees did. “But I have to overcome all of them to pursue my father and my dream,” she said.
Mon said her father entered the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) but was barred by his aunties who raised him in La Union. “Talagang ambisyon ko ang maging pulis at para ipagpatuloy ko na rin ang pangarap ng father ko,” she said.
Mon, the neophyte officer, has offered a solution to problems that plague the law enforcement agency. Everything is written, she said, and all a policemen has to do is to follow. “Kung alam napo nating mali, huwag na po nating gawin.
Pumasok tayo sa serbisyo para maglingkod, hindi para paglingkuran ng bayan,” she said. Former Pangasinan Third Distr. Rep. Rachel Arenas, who was guest speaker, asked the graduates to “keep idealism and keep in their minds that they have to always defend and fight for the Filipinos.”
