After going through an assortment of jobs in the private sector, PO2 Girlie Gay Sañado finally found her calling in law enforcement when she joined the PNP in 1997. “My father and brother were policemen. They advised me to try it out because working in government was more stable than staying in the private sector. I preferred working in City Hall but I ended up taking the PNP exams,” she said.

It was hard at the beginning for P02 Sanado because she had to start from the bottom rung. After a sheltered life as a BSBA Accounting major at the Mindanao State University, she suddenly had to tough it out in her 9-month PNP training. “After a while, I learned to love my work. I started at the Women’s and Children’s Desk in Gen. Santos City Police Station and after 11 years, I am now an investigator, an advocate of children’s and women’s rights and a teacher to elementary students on the drug awareness and resistance program,” she marvels.

At 36 years old, she is just at the dawn of her career but she has certainly paid her dues and is now slowly reaping the fruits of all her hard work. Last year, she was one of the top 10 police officers who were recognized as the Country’s Policemen in Service (COPS). Aside from this, she has received four medals of merit and efficiency as well as almost 30 commendations both from police hierarchy and local government authorities, honoring her exemplary achievements as a police officer.

Her records in crime solution include promoting and protecting the rights of women and children, including those referred to as Children in Conflict with the Law. She has also apprehended and filed cases against serial rapists, incest sex offenders, and pimps which helped turn the tides against the abuse and exploitation of women, especially minors. In her stint as WCPD Investigator, she has also helped bust illegal recruiters involved in white slavery and human trafficking which prevented the further deterioration of gender-related criminal activities.

In addition, she has been teaching elementary students in her capacity as DARE officer against the dangers of illegal drugs. “Since 1998, I have been teaching Grade 6 students. It is purely voluntary and entails sacrifice on my part because we don’t receive any fee for this. I feel pressured at times but I say bahala na lang si Lord niyan. My consuelo are the students who approach me and say I am now a graduate of nursing and I was once your student. It gives me a certain joy to know that I was once a part of their lives as their teacher,” she says.

A member of Ang Lingkod ng Panginoon, a Catholic community for single professionals, she says she has no regrets with the choice she made. “I will never have this opportunity to serve if I did not become a policewoman. Looking back, my father who recently passed away and my brother who is requesting for discharge because of his illness were right in encouraging me to be a police officer. I can now serve everyone especially the less-fortunate who needs care and the women and children victims whose lives are really touching,” she concluded.