The new chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Wednesday said he is confident it will be able to regain the trust and confidence of the public despite criticisms being thrown at them.

In his speech during the change of command ceremony in Camp Crame, Police Lt. General Camilo Pancratius Cascolan said they will remain armed with the ideals of quality police service with honor and justice.

Cascolan admitted that the PNP remains plagued with various issues and concerns that often undermine their efforts.

“Certainly, the tasks ahead will be difficult and overwhelming. But with only the best interests of the community foremost in our hearts and minds, I am confident that we will prevail against all odds and achieve all that we have set out to do,” he said.

Cascolan said the challenges they are facing are not different from the past due to lack or inadequacy of remedial measures and previous efforts are never sustained.

The new PNP chief said challenges were failed to address because the initiatives are either too little and at times too late and due to recent incidents at this time of the pandemic, the trust and confidence in the government and the PNP’s capabilities and its capacity to maintain peace and order and protect peoples’ lives is in crisis.

“But times of crisis are also times of opportunities, despite all these concerns and criticisms, I remain confident that the PNP will be able to regain the trust and confidence of the public because we have the PNP P.A.T.R.O.L. Plan 2030 that will keep us moving forward and overcome adversities as we continue our transformation journey and keeping the ‘Bayanihan Spirit’ in working closely with all stakeholders in maintaining peace and order in our communities,” Cascolan said.

He said the PNP organization can cope with the crisis by keeping their house in order following the principles of ‘good governance’ and good housekeeping’, sustaining the improvement of systems, processes and procedures, by enhancing capabilities of our units and the skills of our personnel and making them work as a team towards a common goal.

Cascolan added peace and order, public safety and security are national endeavors that require joint and collaborative efforts of the police, other government agencies, the communities and all stakeholders.

“With this concept of shared vision, shared responsibility and commitment, and shared values, we will strengthen our partnership with our more than 20,000 Advisory Council members and encourage more active participation from the community,” he said.

“Let me stress, that the PNP can never be truly effective without the help and support of the community,” he said.

Cascolan said the potent weapon against crime is the police-community partnership that PNP will try to raise, re-energize and strengthen.

“During my term as the Chief, PNP we will seize every single opportunity to deliver better, if not the best police services,” he said.

“We will seize every opportunity to serve and protect our countrymen the best way we can. There will be no effort and no time wasted because there remains much to be done,” he said. Ella Dionisio/DMS