DILG offer to Metro Manila local gov’ts: ‘Buy one police car, get another free’
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) encouraged local governments to boost their police vehicle fleets, with Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla proposing a “buy-one, get-one” scheme from the national government to Metro Manila mayors.
Remulla made the offer as he noted the disparity in the police vehicle-to-population ratios among local governments in Metro Manila and the provinces.
“There is a clear disparity. Metro Manila, with over 14 million people, has only 635 police vehicles. Cavite, with 4.5 million people, has 801. This has to be corrected,” he said during the meeting of Metro Manila’s Regional Peace and Order Council in Taguig City on Friday.
“What I am proposing is we go back-to-back. You buy one, we give you one,” he added.
Remulla noted that Police Philippine National Police chief Gen. Nicolas Torre required police units to respond to emergencies within five minutes and has already sacked eight Metro Manila police chiefs for failing to comply.
Torre said he was able to implement the policy when he was director of the Quezon City Police District and has bared plans to enforce it nationwide with a view to even improving the response time to three minutes.
Policy shift needed
Torre said the 5-minute response policy requires police managers to shift from fixed precinct assignments to dynamic mobile patrols, ensuring that police are “on the move, ready to respond.”
But Remulla noted that the police vehicle-to-population ratio shows that law enforcers simply don’t have the tools, and police officers are frequently forced to use their personal vehicles for work purposes.
The DILG chief said the DILG also has plans to acquire more motorcycles to match the riding competency of police personnel.
“Fifty percent of our police force cannot drive, but 90 percent know how to ride a scooter. That is a gap we must address,” he said.
He added that the DILG is also planning to procure mini-fire trucks that can access narrow alleys in densely populated areas to improve fire response operations.
