Widus converts container van into police detachment

• Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/local-news/2018/01/25/widus-converts-container-van-police-detachment-585661
• Friday, January 26, 2018

By Reynaldo G. Navales

THE Widus Foundation Inc. (WFI), in cooperation with the Korean Community Association in Central Luzon Inc. (KCACLI), turned over on January 24 a 20-footer container van to the Tourist Police Unit (TPU) of Angeles City that was converted into a police detachment.

The P1.6-million facility is fully furnished with office equipment, which include a desktop computer, printer, two office table, a water dispenser, a split-type air conditioning unit, a mini-fridge, file cabinets, a 15-door employee steel cabinet, a sala set, one set of HD CCTV (four Channels), one 32 inch flat screen television, four visitors’ chairs, one mobile phone with Globe and Smart SIM, one LED signboard with moving text, and one unit police signpost.

WFI executive director Neki Liwanag led the ceremonial turnover together with KCACLI president Kim Yi Young, Interpol NBC Seoul Chief of Inspector Lee Ji Hun, Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan, and Regional Office III Director for Administration Police Chief Superintendent Elmer Bantog.

Liwanag, who is also the assistant vice-president for corporate planning and compliance of Widus International Leisure Inc. (Wili), expressed the company’s full support to the Korean community with its vision of making Korean town as a very safe place for both tourists and locals.

“We hope that this container van office would help strengthen our tourist policemen’s efforts in maintaining the security and safety of our community. We also hope that this project eventually helps in making TPU Angeles City the benchmark model in the country,” Liwanag said.

TPU Angeles City is currently composed of 13 police officers who share a space in the current community police precinct located in Barangay Anunas. It has 13 units of bicycles to patrol the area and it serves three police stations.

Bantog expressed the Philippine National Police’s utmost gratitude for WFI support by providing an ambulant office for its tourist policemen in Angeles City.

“Coupled with the technical skills of our tourist policemen, this newly donated office van is doubly significant as we heighten awareness and vigilance towards tourist safety and security in Central Luzon,” Bantog said.

Young, who represented the Korean community, noted of Daesik Han, Wili's president and WFI chairman, for his continued efforts in supporting his countrymen through his company’s generous donation.

Pamintuan also commended WFI’s initiatives, describing it as a “beautiful piece of headquarters.”

“I hope this will be replicated by other locators and institutions,” the mayor said.

WFI was recently accredited by the Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC) and Liwanag described it as a “proof of its commitment to the community.”

“Our accreditation from the PCNC only shows that we are in it for the long haul. WFI is not just a charity arm of WILI but also a foundation that seeks to improve the community through various projects geared towards the betterment of education, health, tourism and even historical and cultural preservation,” Liwanag said.