Remember when Davao City notched second as the safest city in Southeast Asia, according to Numbeo.com? It was not a coincidence. It was driven by the people’s obedience and the strong dedication of leaders behind the city’s milestone.
One of the pillars of that accomplishment was Davao City Police Office (DCPO) director Police Colonel Alexander Tagum who will officially bid goodbye to his post on Friday, October 25, as a greener pasture awaits him as the Senior Executive Assistant of Philippine National Police (PNP) office-in-charge Lieutenant General Archie Gamboa.
Tagum, who served for two years, 6 months and 20 days as city director, will be replaced by Police Colonel Kirby John Kraft, the outgoing regional director of Highway Patrol Group (HPG) in Region 3.
The turnover of command ceremony is scheduled on Friday at the historical grounds of DCPO.
TAGUM’S RECORD
Looking back at his years of service as the city director, Tagum established the several security blueprint that includes the “Oplan Iron City” which he considered the “cornerstone” of his supervision.
“This was the basis of the “Bantay Katawhan” drive which aims to ensure that every street and every corner of the city has police personnel being deployed,” Tagum said.
He shared that he came up with such a strategy to keep the people confident that law enforcers are around which somehow minimize the potential of crime. The drive was backed by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio who, according to Tagum, promptly responded on his requests to strengthen the security of the city.
“When I assumed office, there were less than 1,500 personnel before and I told the mayor that the city is too big to only have this number of police personnel,” Tagum narrated.
In less than a week, the mayor approved the fund for training and recruitment for a permanent augmentation of police personnel.
Another reason why Tagum accomplished his mission was the augmentation of personnel mobility through the vehicle donation by the Japanese and Korean government, strengthening the city’s Mobile Patrol Group.
“This boosted the confidence of the people that there are law enforcers around. Yan po ang deployment naming in to keep the city secured all the time,” he said. He also lauded the strong partnership with their security counterpart including the Task Force Davao and Public Safety and Security Command Center (PSSCC), among others.
Tagum also takes pride of the “Oplan Kalinaw” which enabled the police to saturate rural and urban communities to avoid the infiltration of terrorists.
“Dinagdagan din naming ng community outreach and community empowerment which was designed to further raise the trust and confidence of the people towards the police,” he said. Under the community outreach and community empowerment includes “Pamaskong Handog” which encouraged the police office to raise fund to provide a free Christmas party for not less than 10,000 children.
“This is my challenge to the next city director to continue this program,” Tagum said.
He described the city director post an opportunity for redemption recalling that he was the ground commander during the infamous Kidapawan incident in 2016 that left several farmers and police wounded.
“I thank maam Sara (Davao City Mayor) for giving me a chance to redeem myself as a police,” he shared.
He even described being the city director of Davao City an “impossible dream” and an opportunity rarer than becoming a General. Tagum overrated the position that he told himself upon assuming office to render an immediate resignation if he failed.
Thus, he gave a friendly advice to the incoming city director to give the best.
“Kung ginalingan mo sa Luzon, dito mas doblehin mo pa. Parang nung pinakanta ka, dagdagan mo ng sayaw,” joked Tagum.Tagum, however, is confident that Kraft will deliver.
“I know him personally and based on his personality and background, he will be able to deliver,” the outgoing city director said.
Kraft is the underclass of Tagum in the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) “Sandigan Class” of 1994.
