Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO) Director, Col. Romeo Baleros, has urged public information officers (PIO) of police stations in the province to maintain a good working relationship with the media.
“I consider them as one of our important lines of defense. Imagine the coverage we will be able to reach if we continue to maintain this friendship with our media,” Baleros said during the joint PIOs and media forum held at the Police Regional Office 6 (Western Visayas) satellite office here Thursday.
The gathering was attended by the PIOs of police stations in all 31 cities and municipalities of the province and mobile force companies, and the officers and members of the NOCPPO Press Corps, headed by president Eden Aboso of DYEZ Aksyon Radyo Bacolod.
“This is not a one-way street. We also have to welcome them, accommodate them, and provide them the truth. Aside from being our enablers in community policing, the media also stand as our critics,” Baleros said.
He noted that police officers, being public servants, should accept the fact that they are always in the public eye and are accountable for their actions.
Still, Baleros said that with or without the presence of the media, the police should not fall below the standard that public service requires.
“I am happy for this opportunity because this provides a venue where ideas from both parties are freely shared and that the Philippine National Police’s stigma against the media is diminished, if not eradicated,” he added.
Lt. Col. Adrian Acollador, deputy provincial director for administration, told the information officers and spokespersons of police stations that “no police work is easy without the support of our media counterparts.”
Acollador supervises the operations of the Police Community Affairs Section led by Maj. Norberto Barniso. The NOCPPO Public Information Office is headed by Maj. Edison Garcia.
The forum included a discussion of the salient points of the Police Media Relations Manual and an open forum between the PIOs and reporters covering the provincial police beat. (Nanette Guadalquiver PNA via NDB)