In an effort to connect with Filipinos all around the globe, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has launched the Global Police Community Relations (PCR) program.
According to the PNP PCR Group’s website, the program will allow Filipinos to report crimes from outside the Philippines and provides access to assistance from the PNP and “will truly help to promote and preserve peace and security not only within the country but all over the globe.”
“Our foremost concern in launching the Global PCR is to connect to all our kababayans abroad,” Chief Supt. Rhodel Sermonia said at an official launch of the program at the Philippine Consul General’s office in Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 21. “Or, in our own little way, we’ll be able to address their problems especially the emotional problems that they will encounter if their loved ones left in the Philippines are encountering also some emotional problems.
In essence, the Global PCR seeks to improve communication between the police force and Filipinos everywhere. The program has a crucial social media component that will make it easier for Filipinos to submit tips to the PNP.
Since the election of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and his violent campaign on illegal drugs, the PNP has come under intense international scrutiny for its role in killing drug suspects in neighborhood raids. According to Balitang America, Filipinos who attended Friday’s launch and who have relatives and loved ones back in the Philippines expressed concern over the crime rates in certain barangays, or neighborhoods.
The United Nations and Amnesty International are among the most prominent human rights advocates that have condemned Duterte’s ruthless drug war which has claimed the lives of thousands of suspects and civilians without granting them due process of law.
Sermonia said that the program will not only work to efficiently prevent crimes, but it will also display law enforcement’s efforts in drug rehabilitation measures, too.
“Of course another objective [is] to show all our kababayans all over the world that the Philippine government under the leadership of our President Duterte is again coming up with a very strong program which is taping malasakit, or shall we say courage and compassion program, and would like to show to you this global PCR that another malasakit more than 10 million Filipinos all over the world.” (Klarize Medenilla/AJPress)
