Greetings…

The ushering of the New Year always gives us much hope and well wishes for everybody, especially to our Family, health and career. As we all fervently look forward to the year ahead of us, I would like all of us to ponder and learn from the year that was.

I assumed the leadership of this Police Regional Office with the singular vision of promoting excellence among the officers and men of NCRPO as well as in the service that we provide to the community we have sworn “To serve and protect.” As you have seen, we translated that vision into programs, project and activities that raised the bar of performance of the police not just here in Metro Manila but in the entire country.

And in doing so, we need to examine our existing plans and determine how we can improve the services we provide to the general public and in the process adopt measure that will ensure enhanced police service to our community. As Metro Manila continues to grow and develop, the NCRPO should correspondingly respond with proactive strategies. And this is precisely the reason why I had directed all District Directors , chiefs of police and station commanders to draft their respective action plans that will address the pressing problems of peace and order in their jurisdictions taking into account the community’s needs and expectations.

During the command conference two weeks ago, it was observed that the common issues affecting the peace and order situation in various places of Metro Manila are street crimes like robbery/snatching, tutok kalawit, shooting incidents, and carnapping. It is our objective to strategically mitigate these emerging crime trends with proactive solutions. We have to identify enforcement and prevention strategies as well as develop and employ concrete and measurable actions that will promote public safety and security in the entire metropolitan area and at the same time engage the active involvement of the community in the implementation of these programs.

We will inform the citizenry of our plans and ask their support in achieving our desired goals and involve them as active partners in the maintenance and promotion of peace and order.

I made you signed a covenant that you are willing to be relieved for your failure to address the prevailing criminality problem In our AOR. Consider that as a challenge to your leadership and not as s threat and be consumed. I purposely did that to raise our performance level so that better police and public safety services will be delivered to the community for the year 2010.

A good commander will always choose what is right, not what think or believes right. Our decisions may not be popular but if it benefits organization and people, we must go for it. What harms the community and the people is not right. There are trade-off that correspond to our choices, we will listen with our hearts and work with our conscience. Our conscience is the best judge to the actions and decisions we make.

The completion and operational of first state – of – the – art Command, Control and Communication Center (C4) of PNP, we fondly call RTOIC has been a bragging right for all of us here in NCRPO. We blazed the trail in setting up such up a facility with almost no fund coming from the government. We marketed our noble intent and humble ideas on how to use technology in everyday police operations to well-meaning individuals and organizations.

Support to RTOIC started to flow and came to place, taking their respective places in the plan like unique, interlocking pieces of a puzzle. At this point, we can say that we were not just able to finish a project. We now have a very potent tool with so much capability and prospect for more efficient and effective police activities. These include among others, video analytics, data integration, and fast, real-time information gathering and verification.

I believe that support from the President herself and several individuals were provided mainly because the goals are clear and the people who are mandated and willing to execute the plan have the credibility to perform. This is the point that I want to drive home to all of you.

Excellence is not about doing extraordinary things but, doing ordinary things in extraordinary manner. What sets the difference is our hearts to serve and earnest desire to perform as mandated. But the path to excellence is a narrow road that few individuals want to take. It is path of sacrifice and a lot of selflessness. The great examples of these traits were shown to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. He lived a life of simplicity but full of greatness. He is considered a leader because of his heart to serve.

Our guide for the New Year must be the Almighty Father. More than our plans and programs, our ability to pray and seek guidance to the Lord be our best chance of doing the right things and hope of not straying away from our mandate and reason for existence. And when we do pray, make sure that we pray not just for our intentions. Let us also pray for our love ones, for the people we serve, and organization where we belong – the PNP.

We can transform our country into the best that it could possibly be. But all chance must start and emanate from our hearts. When we do, our positive change will affect our family, then our co- workers, then our Barangay, then our community then our country. We ended 2009 in very a positive manner – crime incident was on a down trend, RTOIC is working, and most of us pass the Physical Fitness Test. My vision and plan for NCRPO is just as good as your desire to work in synergy.

Together let us make things happen and be winners. Happy new year to all of you and let us all contribute for a better and more prosperous new year for all of us.