Bicol Saro Party-list Representative Brian Raymund Yamsuan
MANILA, Philippine — Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Brian Yamsuan on Wednesday called on the Philippine National Police (PNP) to further develop its digital crime reporting system to encourage citizen participation in suppressing crime.
Yamsuan made the pronouncement upon the rollout of the Law Enforcement Reporting and Information System (Leris) in Metro Manila which would allow the public to report suspicious incidents and crimes through their mobile phones.
According to Yamsuan, under the proposed P6.325 trillion national budget for fiscal year 2025 approved by the House of Representatives, the DILG will get P281.3 billion, of which 73 percent or 206.2 billion is allocated to the PNP. The implementation of PNP’s LERIS would get a P1.2 billion boost next year.
“Given the P1.2 billion allocation for LERIS, we hope that the PNP could further widen the reach of this digital policing app so that it could be implemented nationwide by next year,” Yamsuan, a former DILG Assistant Secretary said in a statement.
“With cell phones being a ubiquitous part of our daily lives, LERIS could be a gamechanger that could lead to improved police response times. If implemented properly on a nationwide scale, this would encourage many citizens to be more proactive in helping prevent crime,” he added.
Yamsuan then urged the PNP to launch an information drive on social media that would help familiarize the public with the use of the LERIS through the eGovPH app.
Furthermore, Yamsuan said tools like LERIS should be complemented by “hard” technologies, particularly, the use of CCTV cameras in public spaces and making body-worn cameras mandatory in law enforcement.
He also emphasized the need for the PNP to invest in training its personnel concerning the proper handling of video footage in these devices to ensure that they remain untampered.
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He then expressed hope that one of his co-authored measures, House Bill (HB) 4708, which seeks to mandate the use of body-worn cameras during law enforcement operations, would soon be passed.
Yamsuan is also gunning for another term in the House of Representatives in the 2025 elections.