“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.” (Jeremiah 17:7)
For the past months, Sagada police chief Pedro Tactay had been inviting me to tandem with him and his team in the formation program of the youth in the municipality.
The COP’s principle is indeed an inspiration: “Anything we do be it managed by the police or any uniformed institution, success is certain when it is founded and grounded in God.” I did not hear the line once but everytime we meet for an activity, who will not be inspired with that?
Tactay is now on his sixth month as the leader of the band of Sagada Municipal Police Station. He visited all the 19 barangays with good activities for the community and the youth.
He does not confine his work at the police station. There are other important things to address. He goes to the barangays and immerses himself with his team to learn and teach. He reaches out to live peace, enjoy peace, and to advance peace.
He is targeting to implement the youth formation in all the barangays although giving priority to the barangays identified by the Task Force End Local Communist Armed Conflict. His six-month stay in Sagada is obviously loaded with activities and good plans.
An invitation from the COP means yes to me because of the harmonious working relationship, the advocacy for peace, and care for the young people. His work is founded on God.
The COP fits well his name being a public servant enveloped with his strong faith in the Lord to live well and serve well like Peter in the gospel who declared the best confession when they were asked by Jesus, “Who do you say that I am?” He responded, “You are the Messiah!”
People of Sagada were also blessed to listen to the inspiring message of Col. Ruben Bawaan Andiso, the provincial director of Mountain Province Police Office, during the awarding ceremonies of the Wow Sagada online dance animation at our Lady of Mount Carmel Church.
I am reminded as well of the late Rep. Maximo Dalog, Sr. who often remarked, “We will not start the program without invoking God to bless us and the activity. Everything must start from His grace.”
These beautiful lines coming from the uniformed personnel and public servants are indeed inspirations. I pray that more of their kind will propagate the social environment especially in these trying times. I hope our good public servants will continue to influence us about being godly.
On the other hand, I am sad to learn and witness some government leaders and head of offices fixated on the preventive measures against the virus that causes the Covid-19 and worse, on the funding involved.
The virus is with us. It is a part of our life now. The failure of the municipal or provincial Inter-Agency Task Force is that they are fixated on the preventive measures, forgetting the curative and the management of the virus that causes the Covid-19.
I feel a bit sad to witness a lot of IATF meetings on the idealistic prevention objective and yet the care for the young people are sidelined. Plans and discussions revolve around the virus. We overlook on the curative aspect and management of spiritual, psychological, and emotional aspects. We need to transcend and re-strategize. I remember the repeated lines of Mayor James Pooten, Jr. during the last Sagada MIATF meeting, “Let us learn to pray and we pray hard.”
Reach me at [email protected] or at 0908-727-6735.
April 20, 2024
