The Philippine National Police will be ramping up its recruitment of new cops this year after receiving funding assurance from Congress through Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Romualdez, according to police sources, also pledged to support the police in terms of acquiring needed technologies and equipment.
PNP spokesperson, Col. Red Maranan, yesterday told reporters that for 2023, the PNP is authorized to recruit only 1,000 additional personnel — 3,000 less than the 4,000 it hired in 2022.
Romualdez on Monday met with PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. and Secretary Benhur Abalos of the Department of the Interior and Local Government to discuss the seeming runaway crime problem in the country.
Before the meeting, the House leader expressed alarm over the spate of killings that, among others, targeted three politicians in February, something that Azurin described as “isolated incidents.”
Presently, the PNP has a strength of 227,000 personnel serving the country’s population of 110 million.
Despite the high-profile crimes that have occurred recently, Abalos and Azurin told Romualdez that the overall crime rate has gone down.
Azurin on Monday said the crime rate dropped by 19.49 percent from January to 25 February this year compared to the same period in 2022. Index crimes, in particular, fell to 4,944 cases versus 6,141 for the periods compared.
“We gave Secretary Abalos and General Azurin our assurance that the House of Representatives would be open to providing the PNP with adequate funding support and other resources, as well as new legislation, if necessary, to buttress the campaign against crime, which is our shared concern,” Romualdez said.
Ambushes
On 17 February, Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal Alonto Adiong Jr. survived an ambush but several of his companions were killed. On 19 February, Aparri, Cagayan Vice Mayor Rommel Alameda, and several of his men were killed in an ambush.
Then on 22 February, Mayor Ohto Montawal of Datu Montawal town in Maguindanao del Sur was wounded when he was shot by two men on board a motorcycle while the mayor was in a van with a companion on Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City.
Azurin said that as of 26 February, Special Investigation Task Group Alameda had gathered vital evidence and promising leads.
“While in SITG Montawal, we are on the double conducting backtracking of CCTV footage and the ACG (PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group) is assisting by enhancing the footage in order to identify the suspects,” Azurin said.
He said investigators have leads in the cases, particularly the identification of the suspects. “We are optimistic the three SITGs will solve their respective cases at the soonest time and put the suspects behind bars,” he added.
The PNP chief said he had also ordered the heads of the 17 police regional offices to assess security threats against local officials in their respective areas. So far, no politician has come forward to inform the police about any threat to their lives, Azurin said.
“We are hoping the threat assessments will be accelerated so that we would know whether to provide additional security to them or (maintain the) status quo on the present security that is detailed to them,” he explained.