NCRPO on papal fund: No cash, just food

MANILA, Philippines - Metro Manila’s five police district directors never distributed a single centavo of the P2,400 allowance for police officers who helped secure Pope Francis during his visit, an official said yesterday.

What these officials distributed were food packs to prevent police officers from leaving their assigned posts, according to National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Carmelo Valmoria.

“The district directors did not keep the money but spent them for food allocations for their men involved in the security of Pope Francis,” said Valmoria, quoting reports submitted by the five police districts.

“Not a single cent reached the hands of the policemen because their superiors decided on an organized messing to prevent them from leaving their posts and getting hungry,” he added.

The officials involved are Chief Superintendent Henry Rañola Jr. of the Southern Police District, Senior Superintendent Joel Pagdilao of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), Chief Superintendent Abelardo Villacorta of the Eastern Police District (EPD), Chief Superintendent Jonathan Miano of the Northern Police District (NPD) and Senior Superintendent Rolando Nana of the Manila Police District (MPD).

Philippine National Police officer-in-charge Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina has ordered an investigation of reports that police officers deployed for the papal visit received only part of their allowance.

Some police officers posted on Police Digest sa FB’s Facebook page that they received neither food nor money, while others said they received as little as P120.

Members of the Police Security and Protection Group complained that they received only P700 of the P2,400 allowance, but PSPG budget officer Superintendent Evangeline Martos has been suspended pending an investigation for the delay in food provisions.

Reasons

Valmoria said the members of NCPRO’s contingent were deployed five hours early in areas where Pope Francis was supposed to visit, giving them little time to buy food for themselves.

There are also areas of deployment that have no malls, food outlets and vendors selling street food, he added.

Police officers were deployed three days before the papal visit to secure the areas the pontiff was supposed to visit. The P2,400 food allowance was supposed to cover the eight-day deployment.

Valmoria did not say how much the NCRPO received as food allowance for the papal visit, but he claimed the NCRPO hired at least 254 trucks at P10,000 each to ferry policemen to their destinations and bought food during the two-day dry run for the security, all of which had not been included in the papal visit budget.

Valmoria ordered an investigation on how the district directors spent their allowances during the papal visit amid reports that several policemen, including a police major, complained during a television interview that they received not a single cent.

Senior Superintendent Jimili Macaraeg, the NCRPO’s comptroller, claimed that a budget of P100 each was allotted for the policemen’s breakfast, lunch and dinner.

He said the budget was forwarded to the district directors and it is up to them how they would use the money.

Macaraeg said the MPD operations division fed the contingents from the NPD, EPD and the national support units from Camp Crame.

The contingent from the NCRPO’s regional headquarters and the new police recruits were fed by the regional operations division, while QCPD and the Regional Police Safety Battalion fed their own personnel, he added.