More cops deployed in schools

Following Thursday's bloody grenade attack at the Technological Institute of the Philippines in Quezon City, the National Capital Region Police Office will beef-up security around metro schools.

In an interview with Camp Crame reporters yesterday, NCRPO director Chief Superintendent Edgar Aglipay said that he has already ordered Central Police District director Chief Superintendent Victor Luga to field additional uniformed police officers near the TIP campus in Cubao.

"The officers will just be posted near the schools and not inside the campus," Aglipay said.

Aglipay said that other metro schools have asked the NCRPO for more police visibility. However, he was quick to stress that the setting-up of checkpoints is not one of the considered security options.

"I will still have to discuss the security options with the school administrators. But definitely there will be no police checkpoints," Aglipay said.

Western Police District director Chief Superintendent Avelino Razon last month ordered checkpoints in Sampaloc and Sta. Cruz districts following bloody gang wars.

That reaped the ire of cause-oriented groups who viewed it as a sign of impending martial rule. The checkpoints were dismantled two days later.

The grenade blast at the TIP campus left one student dead and 41 others injured. Of those wounded, 29 were rushed to the Quezon City Medical Center, nine to the Labor Hospital (Quirino General Hospital) and three to the TIP dispensary, Aglipay said.

Meanwhile, Aglipay said that Quezon City policemen were not able to quickly respond to the incident as they lack prowl cars.