1st Ifugao PNP officer assigned to province

By Vency D. Bulayungan

LAGAWE, Ifugao -- A bemedalled police officer has come home to spend his remaining years in government service as the new Philippine National Police director of this province.

Senior Sup.t Laurence Mombael, said it was a dream come true for him to serve his own people before he leaves government service.

Mombael, 54 who was born in Barangay Bongan in Mayoyao is the first Ifugao born to serve his province as PNP chief. “It was very hard to process papers. I consider this as a blessing when my request for transfer was granted.”

A member of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) class of 1984, Mombael had been serving other places.

He was a training manager of the PNP training Service in Camp Crame in 2008.

He also joined peace keeping operations to the United Nation in Kosovo in 2000-2001 and in Cote d” Ivoire, the westernmost country bordering on the Gulf of Guinea, in 2005-2007.

As police officer, he received a number of awards. He was received twice the United Nation Service Medal, received the Presidential Unit citation Badge among other awards.

As of the moment, he is serious in implementing Commission and Election rules and regulations to keep the 2010 political exercise a peaceful one such as the gun ban.

“As soon as I sat down as the PD last March 22, I convened the municipal police officers to plan out activities for the upcoming elections,” Mombael said.

He added he will work on resolving needs of the PNP in the provincesuch as manpower augmentation, human resource development of the men in uniform, police visibility and the repair of facilities and buildings at the provincial camp.

Asked on his stand on the proliferation of illegal drugs and gambling, he said he will not tolerate these illegal activities to happen in his own province. “To those concerned, let me tell you that I will not excuse anyone engaged in these illicit activities,” he said.

He said he appreciated what his predecessor Senior Supt. Joseph Adnol implemented during his term such as construction of police outposts in critical areas and vowed to continue what his predecessor started and implement new innovations.

As he went around the different towns and barangays here, Mombael said he can’t help but reminisce the good old days he spent as a school kid in Mayoyao Central School and a high school student at the Ifugao Academy in Kiangan.

“I had been climbing fruit trees in Kiangan and distributed the fruits to my classmates as we spent the week ends there because it was hard to go home to Mayoyao during those days,” Mombael recalled.