PNP officials, Negros bishops talk on cooperation

The Philippine National Police (PNP) officials led by national police chief Gen. Debold Sinas on Sunday met with Catholic bishops of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental to discuss exploratory areas of mutual cooperation to address the combined security and moral and spiritual dimensions of peacekeeping, law and order, justice and human rights.

The meeting between PNP high ranking officials and the Catholic bishops led by Most Reverend Patricio A. Buzon of the Diocese of Bacolod took place at the Bishop’s Palacio Episcopal in Bacolod City.

“The Catholic Church provides one of the strongest pillars of support to the PNP in its selfless desire to serve and protect the community. We have been actively involved in countless church activities, the latest of which being the Feasts of the Black Nazarene and the Sto. Niño last January which both became peaceful and orderly,” Sinas said in a statement on Monday.

Sina’s visit to the Bishop’s House has led to forward-looking, stronger bilateral relations between the top leadership of the PNP and the Church leaders in the provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental.

Another meeting this February, which is a prelude to a series of future meetings, has been agreed upon with details to be finalized soon by both parties.

Together with Most Reverend Gerardo Alminaza of the Diocese of San Carlos, Most Reverend Louie Galbines of the Diocese of Kabankalan, and Military Ordinariate Most Reverend Oscar Jaime Florencio, Buzon expressed gratitude and appreciation to Sinas for his humility and gesture of extending his arms of mutual understanding and cooperation with the Church in order to assuage the concerns of the latter on the peace and order in the two Negros provinces.

Other officials from the PNP included Lt. Gen. Cesar Hawthorne Binag, PNP deputy chief for operations; Maj. Gens. Dennis Agustin, Joselito Casimiro, and Rhodel Sermonia from the PNP directorates for intelligence, logistics, and police community relations; Brig. Gen. Rolando Miranda, the regional director of Western Visayas; Brig. Gen. Jason Ortizo, chaplain service director; and Brig. Gen. Ildebrandi Usana, PNP spokesman.

Also present were two military officials, Cols. Leonardo Peña of the 302nd Brigade and Michael Samson, commander of the 303rd Infantry Brigade, representing the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Negros Island.

Aside from meeting with Catholic bishops of the two provinces of Negros, Sinas also graced the groundbreaking ceremony of the Transient Quarters of Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office on Sunday. (With reports form Priam F. Nepomuceno/PNA)