Additional law enforcement board pushed

A Quezon City councilor has pushed for the creation of an additional people’s law enforcement board (PLEB) on top of the five already existing so that each of the city’s six districts would have one.

Roderick Paulate of the second district in his proposed ordinance stressed the need for another PLEB, which would act as a central receiving entity for a citizen’s complaint against abusive policemen. The board would receive a funding of at least P6 million. He cited the Department of the Interior and Local Government Act of 1990, which authorizes the city council to create a number of PLEBs as necessary to hear and decide on citizens’ complaints against erring members of the local police force.

A 1991 ordinance had previously created five PLEBs in Quezon City, three for the three legislative districts and two for the second district based on the number of the police stations in each area. Paulate pointed out that with the creation of two new legislative districts, Districts 5 and 6, in the city, it was necessary to update the ordinance “to be responsive to the changing times.”

The Quezon City Police District currently has close to 3,000 police personnel, which are distributed among the 12 police stations around the city.

Under the proposed ordinance, each of the six PLEBs will be composed of a city councilor of the district, a barangay (village) chair chosen by the Association of Barangay Captains in a special assembly convened by the Barangay Operations Center, and three residents of the district chosen by the city’s peace and order council.—Jeannette I. Andrade