Philippine National Police Chief Director General Ronald “Bato’ dela Rosa. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
A few weeks from now, “Bato” will be one text away.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) will be launching a “Text Bato” hotline where the public can report incidents directly to police chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa.
Police Community Relations Group (PCRG) director Senior Supt. Gilbert Cruz on Monday said Dela Rosa had tapped the PCRG to put a text messaging service that would make him accessible to the public.
Cruz said “Bato” gave them 45 days to finish developing the PNP’s reporting system.
“This will be a system kung saan pwedeng mag-report ang mga kababayan using even the most ordinary cellphone na hawak nila (This will be a system where the public can report incidents using even the most ordinary cellphone that they own),” Cruz said in an interview at Camp Crame.
The smartphone app will also be named after the tough-talking police chief—“Itaga mo sa Bato.”
The app will allow cellphone users to report the presence of drug users and pushers in their areas.
But Cruz said the system will not be limited to drug-related cases, but also other crimes that need to be responded to by the police.
He said they will convert a space inside the PCRG office, which is based in Camp Crame, into a monitoring room that resembles a call center office.
The “Bato” hotline and app will be centralized and connected to the provincial and regional police officers so once the PNP receives a report, it would be transferred to the concerned police station.
“Magiging mabilis at centralized ang reporting na yan. Ang kagandahan pa niyan, maging yung office ng PNP chief, magkakaroon siya ng viewing at monitoring. Sa opisina niya mismo, makikita niya na inaaksiyunan ang mga reklamo na pumapasok dyan sa ‘Text Bato,’” he said.
(The reporting will be fast and centralized. What’s great about it is that even the office of the PNP chief will have viewing and monitoring. Inside his office, he can see if the reports coming through ‘Text Bato’ are being acted upon.)
Under the previous PNP leaders, the police community relations arm launched different hotlines. But Cruz assured that the reporting system that the PCRG will create this time will work until the terms of the succeeding police chiefs.
“Ito ay talagang seryoso at hindi ito ningas-kugon na sa umpisa lang. Pipilitin namin na magkaroon ng sistema sa reporting, para naman hindi lang sa time ni PNP chief Dela Rosa, kundi sa mga darating o susunod pang PNP chief,” he said.
(This is very serious and it won’t eventually die down. We will insist on a system in reporting, so that it won’t just be during the term of PNP chief Dela Rosa, but also to the succeeding PNP chief.)
The PNP also plans to put up an LED billboard at the main gate of its headquarters in Camp Crame along Edsa Santolan.
Cruz said the billboard will flash updates—from the anti-illegal drug efforts of the police, including the number of arrested drug suspects, to weather and traffic advisory.
“Kung mapapansin niyo, tarpaulin pa ‘yan, parang sinauna. Gagawin naming LED billboard para anytime pwede kaming magpalit kung anong impormasyon ang paparatingin namin sa tao (You can see that it’s still a tarpaulin; it’s almost ancient. We will make it a LED billboard so that we can change the information that we want to convey to the public anytime),” he said. JE
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