DILG chief orders tougher ‘no plate’ drive

Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes instructed the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) yesterday to step up the implementation of the "no plate, no travel" policy to curb criminality in the metropolis.

Speaking before the members of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII), Reyes gave the marching orders to NCRPO chief Deputy Director General Avelino Razon Jr. to revitalize the drive against plateless vehicles.

Reyes and Razon were guests at the three-hour multi-Sectoral Peace and Order Summit held in Binondo, Manila.

The DILG said it has several ongoing projects in line with their peace and order program, one of which is the "no plate, no travel" policy.

Reyes said that while there has been a 21 percent decrease in the crime volume in the metropolis, police would continue setting up checkpoints to revitalize the "no plate, no travel" policy.

During the first quarter of this year, the NCRPO registered 3,777 incidents compared to last year’s figure of 4,789 cases.

"Criminals are still there because they think we are not serious, but we have reverse that trend. Criminals now know that the long arm of the law will catch up with them," he said.

The DILG is implementing the "no plate, no travel policy" as a deterrent to crime because in most incidents, suspects use vehicles without license plates in their capers.

"If people cannot follow a simple requirement, then they have no respect for the law. We should all be sporting regular car plates," Reyes said, adding that vehicles not bearing regular plates should also be subjected to heavy scrutiny at checkpoints.

"We will impose more strictly checkpoints and see more policemen pounding the pavement or walking the beat to reassure the public that preventive measures are being undertaken to prevent the occurrence of crime," he said.

Razon said they would comply with the DILG’s directive even as he denied that the campaign has slowed down against vehicles with no proper plates.

"We have a minimum of 37 checkpoints nightly, once we see the need to add more checkpoints then we would place more. We did not stop in this campaign. Every week, the NCRPO conducts operations, it is just that it was not given media attention," Razon told The STAR.

Reyes said law enforcers alone would not be able to solve the peace and order problem in the country. The task requires the cooperation of the community, he stressed.

He lauded John Kaw, assistant to the FFCCCII president on peace and order concerns, for proposing the creation of a grassroots-based community monitoring system.

"It is based on the age-old Filipino tradition of bayanihan, but tailored to community protection," Reyes said.

Under the CMS, leaders in barangays would be tapped in the campaign against criminality and terrorism. The residents would be encouraged to relay valuable information to community leaders, who in turn would forward the information to police.