MAMANG PULIS -- SENIOR Inspector Roderick Gonzales beams with pride as he wears his new rank while supervising his men in busy Manaoag, Pangasinan.

He has reasons to be. The former Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) commando  and bomb technician from Quezon City literally rose from the ranks, patrolling the busy streets of QC until he became a security personnel of former PNP chief General Arturo C. Lomibao and later, former Police Regional Office 1 director now Pangasinan (2nd District) Representative Leopoldo N. Bataoil. Last week, retired Gen. Lomibao pinned the new rank on Gonzales’ uniform to honor his former security aide.

Now the deputy station commander of the Manaoag Municipal Police Station, the Israeli-trained Gonzales and 918 newly-promoted members of the PRO1 including Supt. Sover DC Gonting, the chief of the Regional Legal Service 1, took their oath of office before PRO1 director Chief Supt. Franklin Jesus B. Bucayu.

“This promotion is a true source of inspiration for me and my family. Ito ang dahilan at resulta ng pagsusumikap ko na maipakita ang isang tunay na pulis, isang pulis na nirerespeto ng kanyang kapwa-tao,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales is among the nearly 21,000 Philippine National Police officers and men who are now sporting their new ranks after getting their duly-deserved promotion this year to highlight the PNP’s reward and punishment system, PNP chief Director General Nicanor A. Bartolome said yesterday.

Repeating his calls for his men to be the paragon of a true public servant and to strive harder to be a role model in his or her community, Gen. Bartolome said a total of 1,690 Police Commissioned Officers (PCOs) and 19,227 Police Non-Commissioned Officers (PNCOs) assigned in different PNP units and offices nationwide took their oath of office as part of the latest regular promotion cycle for members of the PNP Officers Corps and its rank-and-file.