CEBU CITY, Philippines — When Police Corporal Joediser Sabanal is able to find some peaceful time after after a hectic day as a police officer and a part time vlogger, he can’t help but think how different his life is now compared to previous years when he was still struggling to even get by to go to school.
Sabanal ponders on the irony how before, he often thinks about not going home to his province in Tayasan, Negros Oriental, when he was still a studying in Dumaguete City, because it entails having to spend for bus fare. But now that he has the money and the willingness to go home, the situation with COVID-19 in Cebu City denies him the chance.
Despite the share of the struggles of being a policeman, Sabanal said that the life he has now is still a blessing and a reward, especially as he sees how, during this time of pandemic, people struggle to get by due to the lockdowns.
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“When I was young, I always wanted to be a policeman,” he said.
He chose to become a policeman and he was determined to achieve his goal. But he admitted, the road to being a cop wasn’t easy.
“Tinuod gyud diay ilang gi ingon nga kinahanglan sa ‘ta mo agi sa bangag sa dagom kay lisud gyud ang kinabuhi,” he added.
(But it’s true what they say that we have to go through the eye of the needle because life can be really tough.)
He said that part of the reason why life became a bit tougher was because when he was still in the elementary level, his father already passed away.
“So it was my mom alone who raised me,” Sabanal said.
“Di pa gani unta ko sugtan nga pa skwelahon dayun sa highschool kay lage, lisud ang kinabuhi,” he added.
(I wasn’t even supposed to begin highschool right away because like what I said, life was tough.)
But Sabanal said his competitiveness helped him succeed.
“I did everything I could to be able to finish school,” said Sabanal.
His efforts paid off as Sabanal is currently assigned at the Office of the City Director (OCD) of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO). He has been serving in the Philippine National Police (PNP) Organziation for four years now.
At the side, Sabanal does something that also keeps him busy. He is often on air in the radio waves here and has a knack for making random videos for his Facebook page named “Boryong TV,” which now has over 4,000 likes and 9,000 followers.
Sabanal has no ambition of becoming a reporter or have anything to do with media but he said he likes to talk. And he is good at it. (You can check out his videos in his FB page.)
Looking back, Sabanal said that despite the difficulties in life, he believes his determination to being a policeman is what helped him achieve his goal.
He has this to say to those who need advice.
“I applied three P’s in my life. First is patience: You have to have a lot of patience. We should not rush into things and wait for the right time. But we also have to work and always find ways. The second is perseverance: You just have to keep trying. You may struggle now and maybe even fall in your journey but what’s important is not how many times you fall, but how many times you get back up. Just move on. The third is prayer: All we do is useless if we don’t pray to God for guidance. It’s normal we go through difficulties. Opportunities don’t always come in life. We have to go through tough times before we reach our goal. We have to believe that everything happens for a reason.” /bmjo