NCRPO Chief Director Guillermo Eleazar. INQUIRER PHOTO/ JAM STA ROSA
MANILA, Philippines — The practice of rotating the schedules of police personnel for Christmas and New Year to give way for holiday breaks would not be adopted for this year, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Chief Director Guillermo Eleazar said on Saturday.
Eleazar said securing people in Metro Manila would entail the full force of the NCRPO and its district offices.
“At ngayon nga, habang lahat ay nagdiriwang sa kapaskuhan at naka-bakasyon, ang NCRPO po ay walang bakasyon, wala po kaming Christmas break or New Year’s break na dati’y ginagawa, hinahati ang ating personnel,” Eleazar told DZMM in an interview.
“We cannot afford na hatiin ‘yong ating personnel dahil nga sa napakarami ng ating babantayan,” he added.
Eleazar said more than 10,000 security personnel — composed of 7,800 cops and force multipliers — would help maintain peace and order in Metro Manila.
He also assured that the police deployed would be approachable and would react accordingly to any complaints from the public.
“All in all, we are deploying 7,800 police personnel, who will be augmented by almost the same number of force multipliers for the entire holidays,” Eleazar said.
“In fact ‘don sa ating mga bus terminal, nagkaroon tayo ng mga police officials there on guard, kung saan may mga desk na pwedeng puntahan,” he explained.
Previously, Philippine National Police Chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said security measures were already in place to ensure that people moving around during the holidays, especially those participating in Simbang Gabi, are safe.
He also clarified that the tightened security for this yuletide season is only preventive and a target-hardening measure, as no solid security threat has been monitored./lb
READ: Tightened security for Simbang Gabi only a preventive measure — Albayalde