Police step up street watch in preparation for school opening

MANILA, Philippines—As the opening day of classes approaches, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has intensified patrols on the streets and deployed marshals in buses to keep criminals at bay.

According to PNP chief Director General Raul Bacalzo, he was ordering all district directors to beef up anti-criminality measures, especially the deployment of bus marshals and the “Motorized Anti-street Crime Operatives (Masco),” a motorcycle-riding squad of patrolmen.

“I’m directing all district directors to continue implementing the integrated patrol system, the Masco, the bus marshal system and other target hardening measures not only against terrorism but against all forms of criminality,” he said.

Bacalzo added that bus marshals would continue to keep watch over Metro Manila thoroughfares. “Some of them have to go undercover and pretend to be passengers so we can really monitor and keep track of threats to the passengers,” he said.

The top police official also issued a directive to renew his “balik eskwela (back-to-school)” instructions with intensified monitoring around schools and traffic-prone areas.

“Even before enrollment, we already ordered district directors and provincial directors to guard against crimes, especially those against property,” Bacalzo said.

“This is the trend around the country every time school opening is near. As it’s the time to pay tuition, theft and robbery incidents rise like what happened in Quezon City last night (Tuesday),” he said, alluding to the botched bus robbery on Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City, that left four suspected thieves dead in a shootout.

Bacalzo visited two policemen, Police Officers 1 Ferdinand G. Leechiu and Ernesto C. Barbajera, who were wounded in the operation.

At Capitol Medical Center where the policemen were treated, Bacalzo awarded them the PNP Wounded Medal (or the “Medalya ng Sugatang Magiting”) and lauded their courage in stopping the bus robbers.

The two are members of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) District Police Intelligence and Operations Unit.

At around 7 p.m. on Tuesday, they were on patrol in a police car on Commonwealth Avenue near the Sandiganbayan when they noticed a commotion in a Kellen bus parked beside the sidewalk.

When they stopped to check what was happening, four men suddenly alighted from the passenger bus and fired upon them.

A shootout ensued, resulting in the death of the four robbers who remain unidentified.

The two policemen, however, were also wounded. Chief Superintendent George Regis, QCPD director, said Leechiu sustained a gunshot wound in the abdomen while Barbajera was wounded in the right leg.—With Nancy C. Carvajal and Sara Pacia