MANILA, Philippines—Don’t be surprised if you see more and more policemen spending their free time in a mall.

And it won’t be an ordinary mall they’ll be going to. It will probably be the most tightly secured shopping place in the country.

A feared detention center for thousands of dissidents during the martial law years and a stronghold of rebel troops during the 1986 People Power Revolution, Camp Crame in Quezon City is about to undergo a major facelift.

Philippine National Police Director General Avelino Razon Tuesday said the PNP had earmarked an initial P80 million for the construction of commercial establishments inside the camp, as well as for the upgrading of camp facilities.

A garden and a spa

First on the list is a new gym that will have the latest exercise machines, a spa and a sauna, Razon told reporters. The camp’s swimming pool is also undergoing renovation.

Then will come an outdoor garden that can be used for official functions.

A major project is the construction of park-and-drive facility with a small mall and coffee shops in a section of the camp near the Santolan MRT station.

The structure will also have a large receiving center for those applying for police clearances.

Office tower

“If you see our (people) lining up at the old office for their police clearances, they are exposed to the elements. We want them to be comfortable indoors,” Razon said.

Proceeds from the project will go to the coffers of the PNP.

But that isn’t where the dream ends.

Eventually, the PNP will construct a new high-rise building on the EDSA (Epifanio delos Santos Avenue) side of the camp to house its headquarters and all the other offices of the PNP, Razon said.

But sadly, Razon said he might be long retired from the service when the new headquarters is finally constructed.

“I might be a doddering old man (uugod-ugod) already,” he joked.

A few weeks shy of 56, the mandatory retirement age for people in the military and police, Razon is scheduled to retire as PNP chief on Sept. 28.

Razon said the areas being used as PNP offices could be turned into a housing project for policemen.

Feng shui

Already, work has begun on the renovation of Camp Crame’s multipurpose hall, a venue for some of the PNP’s major activities, including turnover ceremonies for incoming PNP chiefs. The hall can accommodate around 600 people.

Once renovated, the hall can hold up to 1,000 people. It will also have a café on the second floor and its stage will be pointing to the east.

“That’s feng shui,” Razon said, adding that the new position should bring the PNP more luck.

Dream within reach

Razon also said similar projects were in the pipeline at Camp Aguinaldo, headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

The south side of the camp near the exclusive Corinthian Gardens subdivision will also be developed to accommodate commercial establishments, he said.

The dream seemed closer with the turnover by the AFP to the PNP last week of the titles to the Camp Crame land and other pieces of real estate.

The turnover involved 286 parcels of land totaling 1,160 hectares spread all over the country.

The 33-hectare Camp Crame had been AFP property since the time when the PNP was still the Constabulary branch of the military.

Housing for cops

Other pieces of AFP real property transferred to the PNP were Camp Panopio and Camp Caringal in Quezon City; Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, the regional headquarters of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO); and Camp Castañeda in Silang, Cavite, the training facility of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA).

Also part of the turnover were pieces of real estate now being used by the PNP as regional or provincial police offices, provincial mobile group headquarters, and training facilities.

“We want to do some development on our police camps outside of Metro Manila so we can create more space for the housing of our policemen,” Razon said.

Prior to the establishment of the PNP in 1991, these pieces of real estate were once the sites of the regional command, provincial command or company headquarters of the defunct Philippine Constabulary.

Before the PNP was established, police forces were under the Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police (PC-INP), which was then a part of the AFP.