The Philippine National Police (PNP) formally honored Police Chief Inspector Helen L Galvez, public information officer (PIO) and spokesperson of Police Regional Office 9 as one of “10 most outstanding policewomen of the Philippines”.
PCI Helen L Galvez, currently the Chief, PIO and Spokesperson of PRO-9 formally honored during simple ceremonies held on Monday, December 3, 2018 at the PNP National Headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
She received the coveted award along with nine other female officers given by PNP together with the Zonta Club of Makati-Paseo de Roxas Foundation Inc., ARMSCOR and Andres P. Tamayo Sr. Foundation Inc.
PCI Galvez, a daughter of a farmer in Zamboanga City, became a PNP commissioned officer through lateral entry in 2008. She also became the first female chief of police here in the region. She has led her personnel in achieving multiple accomplishments in the campaign against illegal drugs, piracy and wanted persons during her stints as the chief of police in Labason, Zamboanga del Norte, and of the Zamboanga City Police Station 4 under the Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO).
She has also established a strong police-community relation and boosted the morale of her colleagues and force multipliers in her area of operations. PCI Galvez has fostered cordial media-relation and reinforced community awareness and mobilization when she was assigned as the information officer of the ZCPO in 2015. One of her noteworthy accomplishments was the neutralization of three high-value target personalities and arrest of 42 people when she led a “one-time, big-time” anti-drug operation on March 30, 2016. The operation also led to the recovery of firearms and stolen motorcycles.
She also conceptualized the community-based Healing in Oneness Policing through Education (HOPE) program that aims to provide healing, education, and employment to drug surrenderers through skills training and referral to concerned agencies after “Oplan Tokhang” was implemented in July 2016.
A total of 24 drug surrenderers were successfully rehabilitated and have graduated from the pilot run of HOPE in March 2017 in close coordination with the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Psychiatry of the Zamboanga City Medical Center (ZCMC).
PCI Galvez has strengthened the delivery of a holistic intervention for surrenderers and maintained a strategic monitoring system through a fully committed City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (CADAC) in line with the PNP’s Project Double Barrel on Barangay drug clearing operations.
Later in 2017, she oversaw the merging of the different community-based drug rehabilitation programs of PNP’s HOPE program, ZCMC-DOH’s Drug Users Treatment Enhancement, Rehabilitation and Technical Education (DUTERTE) Program, CHO’s Cambio Vida and PDEA’s Masa Masid Program. Twenty percent of the 10,113 drug surrenders in Zamboanga City have been screened through the merged program and are ready for proper rehabilitation.
PCI Galvez has also supervised the community-based intervention to 21,367 drug surrenderers in the region when she was designated as a member of the oversight committee of the Project Double Barrel and PRO9 Recovery Wellness Program.
She has also initiated a series of programs to keep the public informed on the activities of the command when she assumed as the information officer of PRO-9 in the later part of 2017. The activities also solicited public cooperation.
Galvez has excelled in combat shooting skills and became a member of the PRO-9 shooting team. Director-General Ronald Dela Rosa, then PNP chief, awarded Galvez as the Best Junior Police Commission Officer for the year 2016 during the 116th Police Service Anniversary Celebration.
Other policewomen who were named as The Outstanding Policewomen of the Philippines (TOPWP) were Supt. Olivia A. Sagaysay, NCRPO; SPO2 Sonia Agpalasin Corpuz, Maritime Group; SPO1 Jean Capili Aguada, NCRPO; Chief Insp. Ruth B. Dizon, PRO-11;. Senior Insp. Rowena M Jacosalem, PRO-11; SPO3 Maria Cristina Ila-San Juan, PRO-1: P01 Marjorie S. Pablo, PRO-Calabarzon; 9. Senior Insp Jairilyn Camangian, PRO-1 and Senior Insp. Liezl L. Abenilla, PRO-Calabazon.
The search for the TOPWP is an annual competition meant to discover and recognize the efforts and achievements of female members of the PNP. The annual competition is open to all active duty, female members of the PNP with a rank up to Senior Superintendent.
The yearly award was initiated by Zonta Club of Makati-Paseo de Roxas together with the PNP, which seeks to identify heroic women in the police force, who are able to gain the support of the community to prevent and solve crimes in their locality.