Pimentel wants Balikatan-type drills for PNP
MANILA, Philippines — If the Philippine military have Balikatan Exercises, a senator wants the police to have their own “Kapatiran Exercises,” too.
Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III proposed that the Philippine National Police (PNP) should step up its prevention and crime solution techniques by having its own “Balikatan-type” agreement.
“Instead of a ‘Balikatan exercise,’ our police force could undertake joint ‘Kapatiran exercises’ with police forces of other countries in order to improve the crime-fighting and crime-solving skills of the PNP,” Pimentel said in a statement Sunday.
The senator said that the PNP should pattern the proposed deal with the VFA and modify it to “Visiting Forces Police Agreement (VFPA).”
Seeking a “better training” from the country’s police force, Pimentel said on Sunday that the PNP should enter into an agreement with countries with “advanced crime-solving and crime-fighting techniques.”
The rampant media-killings and drug-related crimes in the country over the past years prompted the senator to propose the said exercises.
“No one has been pinpointed, arrested and prosecuted for the killings of media personalities, especially those in Mindanao and the other provinces,” he said.
The “Kapatiran Exercises,” according to the senator, would help in the search for solutions to unsolved crimes, leading to faster prosecution.
Deal with Scotland Yard
Pimentel also suggested that the PNP should “explore an agreement” with the Scotland Yard, the metropolitan police of the United Kingdom.
Through this, the PNP could get advanced police training in forensic science and other breakthrough studies that “apply science in solving crime.”
“Our goal is to have a police force that is not just properly armed but expertly trained in methods and techniques to prevent the proliferation of crimes,” Pimentel added.
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