TACLOBAN CITY – The Police Regional Office 8 (PRO-8) mobilized nearly 400 police personnel to ensure the safe, orderly, and peaceful observance of the 81st Leyte Gulf Landings Anniversary in Palo, Leyte, on Monday, October 20, 2025.
Under the leadership of PBGen. Jason Capoy, PRO-8 placed all units under full alert status from 5:00 a.m. on October 19 to 5:00 a.m. on October 21 to guarantee maximum operational readiness and quick response to any incidents throughout the commemoration.
The deployment, supervised by the Regional Task Group “Paggunita 2025” led by the Deputy Regional Director for Operations, covered major venues and routes in Palo and nearby areas. Police personnel were assigned to manage crowd control, traffic flow, and perimeter security, particularly around the MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park, where dignitaries, war veterans, and thousands of visitors gathered for the event.
PRO-8 coordinated closely with the Philippine Army, Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Philippine Coast Guard (CGDEV), Palo Traffic Unit, local government units, and civic organizations to ensure seamless security and public safety operations.
PBGen. Capoy lauded the dedication of the deployed personnel and the cooperation of the public, saying the successful and peaceful celebration reflected the collective discipline and unity of the people of Eastern Visayas.
“The peaceful and meaningful observance of the Leyte Gulf Landings Anniversary reflects the unity and discipline of our people. We thank everyone who followed the safety protocols and cooperated with our security forces to honor this historic occasion,” Capoy said.
The Leyte Gulf Landings Anniversary commemorates General Douglas MacArthur’s return on October 20, 1944, which marked the beginning of the liberation of the Philippines from Japanese occupation during World War II.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)
What is our greatest expectation?
IT’S, of course, to meet God at our judgment day. This should be the abiding and life-long expectation we ought to have, for which we should always be vigilant and, more than anything else, properly prepared.
We are reminded of this duty in what Christ told his disciples about being always watchful and prepared to receive the master of the servants in his return from a wedding. (cfr. Lk 12,35-38) “Let your loins be girt, and lamps burning in your hands,” he said. He told them that they should be like “men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding; that when he comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately.”
And Christ continued by saying, “Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he comes, shall find watching. Amen, I say to you, that he will gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and passing will minister unto them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.”
In this regard, we have to continually update and upgrade our vigilance skills. Remember Christ telling his disciples: “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life…Be vigilant at all times.” (Lk 21,34.36)
Times are constantly changing. Although we are told that nothing is new under the sun, still we cannot deny that there will always be new developments that will require us to upgrade our skills in handling them, knowing how to take advantage of the benefits they give and to avoid the dangers they also pose.
Truth is the many developments today, while giving us a lot of advantages and conveniences, can also easily lead us to bad things. They can foster complacency, self-indulgence, vanity, pride, greed, envy, discord, etc. They can turn us into materialistic monsters, totally insensitive to the spiritual and supernatural realities of our life and to God himself.
We should never underestimate the tricks and snares of the devil, the false allurements of the world, and the dynamic of our weakened and wounded flesh. These enemies of our soul will constantly make new guises to mislead and tempt us. To upgrade our vigilance skills is not a matter of paranoia. It is to be realistic. It is to be effectively prudent.
What we have to develop is the skill of looking for God first and always in everything that we do in this life. We have to reassure ourselves that that is the best thing that can happen to us. With God, we would know how to properly think, speak, react and behave in any situation of our life. Yes, we are reassured of joy and peace. And most of all, we would be achieving the final goal of our life—our salvation, our sanctity.
We really need to develop an abiding and burning desire to fulfill the real purpose of our life which is precisely for us to be “another Christ,” God’s image and likeness. We should be clear about this ultimate purpose of ours so we can have the proper sense of direction and focus in our life, and the corresponding urge to fulfill it.
To be sure, God is everywhere. Not only that, he constantly intervenes in our life. He is never passive. He is full of love, concern and solicitude for us. We really have to learn how to correspond to this tremendous madness of love God has for us!
Yes, desiring to be with God in the end and always should be our greatest expectation!