MANILA – Wherever Police Director Geary Barias is assigned in the country, natural and man-made disasters and calamities follow him, as his friends and colleagues have noted.

A month after he assumed command of the National Capital Region Police Office in Metro Manila, Barias was confronted with the Glorietta incident and the Batasan blast, which were recently followed by the Makati stand-off, involving detained Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and former Vice-President Teofisto Guingona, among others.

“Others may say it kamalasan (bad luck), for me, I look at it as an opportunity,” Barias says.

“In all of these three big incidents, I think I am still lucky because in the end, the incidents were resolved,” he said.

In his six months as regional police director of Western Visayas, Barias confronted an oil spill in Guimaras and the bombing of Silay airport in Negros Occidental, and the accidental explosion of the ammunition dump at Camp Crame , while serving as director of the Headquarters Support Group.

Barias who also served as provincial police director of Negros Occidental for two years, said he had learned a lot from his assignment in Visayas, particularly in Negros and Panay , especially from the community and media.

He is now among the candidates for the PNP chief position, which is to be vacated by Director General Avelino Razon in October next year.

“While some events may be extraordinary, the response, to me its not extraordinary... it's something you have really to deal with,” Barias added.

Barias also recalled his assignment 20 years ago in Cebu where the peace and order situation was unstable, citing dispersal and protest actions. "I have to use a lot of imagination on how to do it without necessarily coming out as a bad guy".

While he does not directly deal with the CPP-NPA problem in Metro Manila, Barias said the use of discernment in making decisions is still the same as in other issues and concerns.

Barias and other top police officials were the ones who arrested media people who were at the Peninsula Hotel.

He claims there is no strain in the relationship between him and the media. He, however, said, the clash is when one insists that he was performing his duty while the other party is saying it is an obstruction of justice.

Barias is among the respondents in the complaints filed by the National Press Club before the Commission on Human Rights, in connection with the arrest of journalists during the Makati stand-off.

He said the use of armored vehicles in penetrating the hotel premises was part of the “tactical movements”. The important was the end result as no lives were lost, he claims.*GPB

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