Police official expresses concern over migrant workers’ issues

A Philippine police official visiting Macau has said that the country is working closely with both Filipinos and international authorities to better protect its compatriots who are working abroad.

The director of the Philippines’ Police Community Relations group, Rhodel Sermonia, was in Macau on Sunday to meet with the Filipino community. He said that the country’s Foreign Law Enforcement Community regularly discuss matters of security and the concerns of migrant workers.

The community, which includes the attachés, consuls and secretaries of different consulates, aims to serve as a channel for raising awareness of migrant workers’ issues.

Speaking to TDM, the official said that they plan to provide a platform for these migrant workers to report their concerns, but “not only their concerns in [a] particular country, but the problems that might be encountered by their loved ones who are left in the Philippines,” said Sermonia.

The official affirmed that the Philippine police force is ridding itself of rogue cops and is continuing the Philippines’ war on drugs.
“The image of the Police that I’ve been seeing in the mainstream media like in TV, radio, newspapers and even in social media represents only one percent of the entire population of the PNP (Philippine National Police), [which is] 190,000,” said the official.

“There are only less than a thousand that have been committing mistakes. But, of course, we are now very aggressive in our internal cleansing,” he added.