Pangelinan is govt employee of the year

Not even typhoons Tingting and Chaba were able to fully spoil recognition of the government’s employee of the year.

Although the presentation of the prestigious award was forced to be push back due to the two disastrous typhoons, the spirit of the award was not disrupted in any way.

Frankie Pangelinan of the Department of Public Safety was named 2004 Government Employee of the Year during a brief ceremony held last Nov. 12 at the Office of the Governor on Capitol Hill.

“Naturally, with this award, I’m pretty surprised,” Pangelinan said during a phone interview over the weekend. “In a sense, it’s really rewarding for all of the hard work and sacrifices. It pushes me to work harder.”

Pangelinan has served the Police department for the past eight years. He currently serves as the police officer assigned for the governor’s protective service.

Prior to that, Pangelinan was Training and Professional Development instructor at the DPS. His duties included preparing and training recruits in the department’s Police Academy.

Earlier this year, Pangelinan headed the training of recruits later inducted to the department as corrections officers.

“I got to oversee a lot of the training, create training schedules, set up the training, make sure the training schedule is followed, order equipment, process papers regarding pay and insurance for recruits, and basically deal with the recruits,” he said.

A father of three with wife Cathy Pangelinan, Frankie expressed his passion for his profession as a law enforcement officer.

“I love what I do and whatever assignment I get,” he said. “This is what drives me and keeps me going. I love this profession…going out keeping our islands safe for our kids and ourselves and for everyone. Not everyone would chose to be an officer because of the dangers, but I chose to become a police officer, and whatever I do out there, small or big, if it does make a difference to keep island safe, then that’s satisfying.”

Pangelinan reiterated the dangers law enforcement officers face on a daily basis, and cites the importance of being prepared for any situation.

“I see this as danger everyday,” he said. “I am a police officer and I’ve arrested criminals, some who even give threats saying ‘I’ll get you.’ In other words, it’s dangerous. I go to work everyday not knowing if I’m going to get hurt or hurt someone. Making decisions as a police officer is not easy. In a case where someone is seriously hurting another, and the only way to stop that is seriously hurting that person, a decision has to be made.

“People say Saipan is small and [dangerous things] will never happen. To me, that way of thinking is very wrong. We cannot afford to think like that, especially for police officers, [because] if we do, we’re going to be too relaxed, our guard will be down, and we’ll be caught off guard. We have to keep the CNMI safe for everyone.”

Candidates for the award include all department employees of the year. The award was originally scheduled to be presented on Labor Day, but was pushed back.

The search for the 2004 Government Employee of the Year began in April and was spearheaded by the Office of Personnel Management.