50 KALINGA COPS TRAIN TO BOOST TOURIST SAFETY AND SECURITY

November 30, 2024 Provincial

TABUK CITY, Kalinga

Kalinga police personnel undergo a four-day Tourism-Oriented Police for Community Order and Protection (TOP COP) training to ensure safety and security of tourists visiting the province. Around 50 police officers from the Kalinga Provincial Police Office (KPPO) are attending the training at Camp Duyan, Bulanao from November 26 to 29 to enhance their knowledge and skills on tourism concepts and values in becoming effective tourism frontliners.

On the first day, the participants listened to lectures and participated in workshops on the Filipino Brand of Service
Excellence (FBSE), one of the flagship programs of the Department of Tourism (DOT) designed to promote the best
and most positive aspects of Filipino hospitality. Dr. Grace Canave, the resource speaker, emphasized the role of police as tourism frontliners, highlighting the importance of exhibiting traits that encourage tourists visit.

“The police are working with people, tourists, and communities every day, so it is important that they should also
be trained the Filipino good values,” Canave said. She highlighted five key Filipino traits: warmth, care, nurturing, hospitality, and sincerity. These traits, she said, are what the Philippines offers to keep tourists coming back. “So, we share in this training the ‘7Ms’ – makadiyos, makatao, makakalikasan, makabansa, masayahin, may
pag-asa, and may bayanihan.

So dagidyay professionals and police, nu makita dagidyay tourists nga they are exhibiting good values, distinctly Filipino, they will say let’s go back to the Philippines,” Canave said. The training also covered topics on local tourist products and services, tourism safety, human rights, and Kalinga’s indigenous peace and justice system. Launched in 2010 by the and the Philippine National Police (PNP) and DOT, the TOP COP aims to ensure a safe and secure environment for local and foreign tourists in tourist destinations.

(JDP/RGA-PIA CAR, Kalinga)