Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Reforms ongoing in police, military to ensure public safety, says Aquino

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 25): Reforms ongoing in police, military to ensure public safety, says Aquino

President Benigno S. Aquino III said reforms are being made in the country's law enforcement system, as well as in the military to ensure public security.

In an interview with members of the Philippine media on Tuesday, the President said that while there are concerns on the way the police do their jobs, they also have many achievements.

One of the reforms in the police force is increasing the number of policemen patrolling the streets, he said.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) is training 15,000 policemen who were previously tied up with clerical work especially in Camp Crame. Office work will be taken over by civilian employees, he said.

The government is also working to fix problems in the pension of the police and the military because this is a major stumbling block in hiring of more policemen and soldiers, he said.

One of the laws on pension reforms is now in Congress, he noted.

The President emphasized the need to increase the number of policemen and soldiers, saying that the figure has remained at 250,000 since the 1986 EDSA People Power revolution.

To make communities safer, the ideal policeman to civilian ratio is 1 to 500, he said.

There is also massive funding for both the police and the military, which is called “shoot, scoot, and communicate,” he said, adding that the government is investing on transportation— motorcycles, vans and trucks— as well as communication systems for both the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the PNP for them to be more effective.

The police is also regularly conducting checkpoints and stepping up their operations against unlicensed firearms, he said.

The Chief Executive further reported developments in recent sensational killings. He said several arrests have been made in connection with the murders of Pangasinan Mayor Ernesto Balolong and hotel owner Richard King.

The police is also pursuing a number of leads in the murder of car racer Ferdinand Pastor, he said.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=656728

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