Towns complain of lack of policemen

While some municipal information officers in the province of Cebu re-echoed the complaints of their mayors for lack of policemen in their towns, the Police Regional Office-7 also reiterated its call for them to intensify the fight against possible terrorist attacks.

During the recent Kapihan sa Philippine Information Agency with municipal information officers and police officials, PRO-7 Deputy Director for Operations S/Supt. Ronald Roderos has made the appeal to every local government unit to activate their Integrated Area Community Public Safety Plan.

Roderos said the plan basically aims to encourage each resident to contribute to the safety of his or her town.

"Just a mere report about suspicious-looking elements is already a big help," Roderos said.

But municipal information officers countered the call of Roderos saying they cannot afford to keep tabs on everyone in town with the size of the police force they have.

Lily Ator of Cordova said their population is 40,000 and growing but they only have 17 policemen. Pepe Paradiang of Compostela, they have only 12 policemen catering to a population of 35,000 residents. They were only two of the more than 20 information officers there.

Roderos said the lack of police personnel amid an ever-increasing populace is a perennial problem but he said the responsibility to hire more policemen exclusively belongs to the Congress. Plus it largely depends on the budget.

The police official told the information officers that one solution to the lack of policemen is for municipal governments to hire more barangay tanods. That if the budget would allow it.

Roderos also said policemen must be out on the field and not stay more in the office doing deskwork.

Ideally, the ratio of one policeman to the number of population is 1:500.

Cebu Provincial Police Office director Drusillo Bolodo, in the same forum, also told the participants that the Barangay Intelligence Network is already in place to fight terror and criminality.

The BIN is an expansion network program to strengthen the gathering of intelligence, particularly in the barangay level.

Regarding the insurgency problem, especially in the mid-north, Bolodo said with the police are regularly coordinating with the military.

"We cannot provide everything but will just do the best we can as we appeal to the community for support in policing to help contribute for a safe and secure environment," Bolodo added.