By BOY RYAN B. ZABAL
KALIBO, Aklan — No good deed should go unrewarded.
For his “unselfish and untiring efforts, professionalism, and devotion to duty,” a policeman from Aklan was recognized as one of this year’s Country’s Outstanding Policemen in Service (COPS).
Police Officer 3 Michael Dalisay Pontoy, 37, of Barangay Antipolo, Ibajay town led the awardees under the police noncommissioned officers category.
Pontoy currently has nine government eligibilities and countless awards and citations from the Philippine National Police (PNP).
“My vision of government service goes beyond my personal desires. I value sacrifice not just for myself but for my family as well,” said the policeman, who is married to Julie of Buruanga.
All 10 awardees were presented yesterday at the PNP national headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City before PNP director Alan Purisima.
They will be officially conferred the award on September 5 by Metrobank Foundation, Inc., President Benigno Aquino III, and Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas.
Each awardee will receive P400,000 cash and a medallion.
The COPS is a joint undertaking of the Metrobank Foundation, Inc. and the Rotary Club of New Manila East in partnership with PNP and PSBank.
Pontoy was also given the Outstanding Criminologist Award from the Professional Criminologists Association of the Philippines in 2013.
He and his family were staying in Malay, where his wife is a volunteer kindergarten teacher at the Dumlog–Kabulihan Primary School.
Pontoy, currently assigned in the Aklan Police Provincial Office, is an example of a policeman who rose from poverty to send his siblings to school.
He studied at Ondoy National High School in Ibajay and the Northwestern Visayan Colleges in the capital town of Kalibo.
Six noncommissioned and four commissioned officers were chosen out of 154 nominees nationwide this year for their community involvement and exceptional crime-solving abilities.
Candidates under the noncommissioned officers category were those with the rank Police Officer 1 to Senior Police Officer 4, while those under the commissioned officers category have the rank Inspector to Senior Superintendent.
They were judged based on their accomplishments in crime solution and prevention with community involvement, awards and recommendations from PNP, impact of a project or crime resolved, and recognition from the community.
Composing the board of judges were Sen. Grace Poe; Fr. Francis Lucas, chief executive officer and president of Catholic Media Network; Balanga City (Bataan) mayor Jose Garcia III; Eduardo Sahagun, president and chief executive officer of Holcim Philippines; Manila’s 3rd District Rep. Maria Zenaida Angping; Atty. Alex Lacson, chairman of Kabayanihan Foundation; and Grace Padaca, former Commission on Elections commissioner. (Aklan Forum Journal/PN)
