Mayor Binay presses PNP for more cops in Makati

Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Jun-Jun” Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Where are the additional policemen?

Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay on Wednesday reiterated his request for more policemen to be deployed to the country’s financial capital, two days after a daring roadside robbery took place on one of the city’s main streets.

Binay said he has not received any response to a letter he sent Philippine National Police Director General Alan Purisima almost two weeks ago, in which he requested for the deployment.

“Criminals are getting bolder and more ruthless for they know they can easily get away even in broad daylight, just like the perpetrators who shot and robbed a helpless pedestrian in a busy thoroughfare in Makati last Monday,” Binay said.

Celadonio Carcedo, a store employee, was walking on Buendia Avenue near Marconi Street in Barangay (village) Palanan past 11 a.m. when a man tried to forcibly take the bag the 63-year-old man was carrying and shot him in the leg when he resisted.

After taking possession of the bag containing P100,000, the assailant got on a motorcycle driven by a cohort and fled.

Carcedo was taken to a hospital and has since been declared in stable condition.

The local chief executive said he hoped the PNP hierarchy would act on his request promptly so that the “rising criminality” in the city could be addressed, and so that there would be enough protection for city residents and investors  day and night.

He said that the crimes happening in the city may seriously dampen investor confidence in the entire country, considering the fact that Makati is the country’s  center of trade and commerce.

Earlier, Binay said  the 560 uniformed personnel of the city police force were “grossly inadequate” to protect  529,039 residents at nighttime.

The ratio of police to Makati’s nighttime population is 1:945.

“The disparity becomes even more pronounced during daytime when our population balloons to over four million because of workers, traders, students, tourists and shoppers who flock to the Central Business District,” Binay said in his letter, noting that the ratio of policemen to daytime population in the city was 1:10,714.

The mayor also noted the admission of Senior Superintendent Manuel Lukban, the Makati police chief, that with the current size of the police force, they had been unable to curb street crimes.

“Coming from the police chief himself, this statement should be taken seriously,” Binay said.

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