• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Fifty police personnel were dispatched in conflict-affected communities and remote barangays of Negros Island Region to serve as the primary link between the Philippine National Police and the community, strengthening grassroots engagement and responsive policing.
PBrig. Gen. Arnold Thomas Ibay, director of Police Regional Office-Negros Island Region, and National Police Commission regional director Owen De Luna led on Friday (Jan. 16) the send-off ceremony of the police officers, who completed the Revitalized Pulis sa Barangay Program (R-PSB) at Camp Alfredo M. Montelibano Sr. Bacolod City.
The newly-trained R-PSB personnel will be assigned to Barangay Oringao, Kabankalan City and Barangay Marcelo in Calatrava, all in Negros Occidental, Barangay Barras in Mabinay, and Tayawan, Bayawan City in Negros Oriental, and Sabang in Siquijor, ensuring a visible, accessible, and people-centered police presence in these communities.
In a statement, Ibay said the send-off ceremony marked not just the deployment of police teams but a renewed promise of service as the R-PSB embodies the collective resolve to bring policing closer to communities that need it most.
He emphasized that R-PSB is a strategic initiative reaffirming the police’s role as guardians of peace, community partners, and servants of the nation, grounded in strong police-community cooperation.
By placing personnel in conflict-affected and remote barangays, PRO-NIR builds trust, encourages collaboration, and addresses security concerns at their roots through a whole-of-nation and whole-of-community approach, Ibay further said. | GB
