ILOILO CITY — The Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) has been formally recognized as the Best Police Provincial Office in Western Visayas, receiving the award during the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) PNP Day celebration on February 2, 2026. The recognition capped a month in which IPPO also placed among the Top 5 performing provincial offices nationwide during the 1st PNP Day at Camp Crame on January 29—an honor received alongside the Iloilo City Police Office, which was named the country's best city police office for the second consecutive year. For a province that has already secured two ASEAN Clean Tourist City awards and a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy designation, the police award adds a layer of institutional credibility that no marketing campaign can manufacture: verified, nationally audited public safety.
IPPO Director Col. Bayani Razalan, who was also named Regional Best Senior Police Commissioned Officer for Operations, attributed the provincial police force's performance to a relentless anti-criminality campaign that has driven down index crimes across Iloilo's 42 municipalities and one component city. "What is good is that we have a high crime clearance efficiency and crime solution efficiency. We surpass the minimum passing requirements of the national headquarters," Razalan said in a media interview. For the traveler weighing a visit to Iloilo's certified ecotourism sites—from the Leganes Integrated Katunggan Ecopark to the Islas de Gigantes—the statistic is not abstract. It is a measurable assurance that the province's tourism infrastructure rests on a foundation of security.
A Provincial Force That Punches Above Its Weight
The IPPO's recognition at both the regional and national levels was not an isolated honor. Three of its officers claimed individual awards at the PRO-6 ceremony. Razalan himself received the Regional Best Senior PCO for Operations, while Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit Chief Maj. Dadje Delima was named Regional Best Junior PCO for Operations and also placed in the Top 5 at the national level. Police Staff Sgt. Erwin Magarzo was recognized as Best Junior Police Non-Commissioned Officer for Administration. The breadth of the awards—spanning command, operations, and administration—suggests an institutional culture of performance rather than a single standout officer carrying the rest.
The IPPO oversees police operations across a province of approximately 2 million residents spread across a geography that includes coastal municipalities, upland barangays, and the rapidly urbanizing suburbs of Iloilo City. Its jurisdiction covers the very destinations that the Department of Tourism and DENR certified in March 2026 as part of the Western Visayas Ecotourism Loop: the Kuliatan Marine Sanctuary in San Joaquin, the Mari-it Wildlife Conservation Park in Lambunao, and the Bulabog Putian National Park in Dingle. A police force that can maintain high clearance and solution efficiency across this diverse territory is a police force that gives tourists the confidence to explore beyond the city center.
A Province Where Safety and Hospitality Converge
The IPPO award arrives amid a broader narrative of public safety investment that property investors and tourism planners alike have been tracking. Iloilo City recently adopted a three-year Peace and Order and Public Safety Plan with a budgetary requirement of PHP1.2 billion, while the Iloilo City Police Office intensified its campaign against loose firearms with a licensing caravan in May 2026 and operations that recovered 44 firearms in April alone. The city has been ranked the eighth safest in Southeast Asia by Numbeo, an international crowd-sourced database.
For the tourism sector, these indicators converge into a single, marketable proposition: Iloilo is not merely a destination of heritage churches and gastronomic discoveries but a place where the visitor's personal security is backed by an award-winning, nationally scrutinized police apparatus. Col. Razalan thanked the local government units, the community, and partner agencies for their support, framing the recognition as "a testament to the hard work, professionalism, and dedication" of every officer under his command. For the international tourist researching whether to include Iloilo in a Philippine itinerary, that testament now carries a formal, verifiable seal—one awarded not by a travel magazine but by the Philippine National Police itself.
