No to jueteng: New Cordillera police director

CAMP DANGWA, La Trinidad, Benguet -- A few days after he assumed office on Sept 22, 2015, the attention of Chief Supt. Ulysses Justiniani Abellera to the traffic problem in Baguio was called by no less than Philippine National Police Chief Ricardo Marquez.

Apparently, a “concerned citizen” presently stuck in a traffic jam somewhere in the city informed Marquez of the actual traffic situation via text messaging, who in turn forwarded the information to Abellera. 

As reported, traffic snarls in Baguio delayed travel time of residents in the city and the neighboring towns of Benguet during rush hours. This situation has been blamed on traffic experiments that caused the closure of road intersections and rerouting of previous directions.

When asked about his plans with a deteriorating traffic situation,  Abellera, the newly appointed Philippine National Police Regional Director for Cordillera said, “…there has to be a traffic summit involving all stakeholders to include public transport drivers and operators, private motorists, school representatives, public officials, police and the media.”

Abellera said the traffic issue in Baguio has become a complicated problem and is not easy to solve, “but we’ll try our best to make significant improvement of the situation.” He said further that sometimes even his wife blamed the traffic cops for the long line of immobile motor vehicles.

However, Abellera maintained that aside from the usual reasons, other matters have to be considered such as the increasing volume of motor vehicles running on any road and a traffic design that has to be studied by traffic engineers.

On peace and order, the newly appointed Police Regional Office-Cordillera director talked about OPLAN Lambat-Sibat, the latest anti-crime approach that will be applied exclusively to fight criminality especially in crime-prone urban centers.

As a sustainable method employed in checking crime incident reports and pinpointing crime hotspots in order that the police is able to provide the most appropriate action; Abellera said, OPLAN Lambat-Sibat will be launched in all regions in the country. 

On jueteng and illegal gambling, Abellera said the “no take” policy among all police units is still the prevailing rule. He did not elaborate as to what actions could be applied against jueteng and gambling operators in the Cordillera whose illegal businesses thrived since authorities stopped raiding them.

Abellera is a lawyer and member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines since 2002, a consistent honor pupil of Magsaysay Elementary School and the valedictorian at Don Bosco High School in Baguio City.

He has been a member of the police organization since graduating from the Philippine Military Academy Class ’84, and rose through the ranks by serving in many capacities as head of various police offices in the country, reaping awards and citations as he went up the organizational ladder.

Supt. Abellera who was born in Gen. Santos City spent childhood in New Lucban Barangay, Baguio City and Asin, Nangalisan, Tuba, Benguet. – March L. Fianza