QCPD: When residents trust us, they will give us info

“WE ARE not Superman, but we are trying our best to serve this city.”

This was how Quezon City Police District (QCPD) chief, Senior Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, described the task ahead of him and his men when he talked to over 100 homeowners at an upscale subdivision in Barangay Batasan about the conduct of the “Oplan Tokhang” campaign in their area.

Beyond the antidrug operations, Eleazar said the consultation and open forum with homeowners of the Ayala Hillside Estates was aimed at boosting their confidence in the QCPD.

“When they trust us, they will give us information,” he told the Inquirer. “In that case, we wouldn’t have to knock on their doors anymore, but we can build up cases from what they will tell the police.”

According to the board of directors of the homeowners’ association, the forum was attended by over 107 representatives from a total of 146 households. Eleazar said that the response was a welcome surprise.

“In other subdivisions in other cities, police would be greeted only by the househelp and dogs,” he said. “So we took advantage of this meeting to talk to them directly.”

Distributed to the homeowners were leaflets bearing information about the city’s antidrug efforts, police hotline numbers and a DVD with the “Katok ng Pagbabago” video produced by the Office of the Vice Mayor—a short drama on the campaign against drugs.

In Quezon City, there are over 500 gated communities, including villages, subdivisions and condominiums. Consultations, led by station commanders of their respective districts, are ongoing to encourage homeowners to participate in the antidrug drive.

QCPD-Batasan station commander Supt. Lito Patay said that right now, no one on their drug watch list was a resident of Ayala Hillside Estate.

However, he encouraged the residents, through the homeowners’ association, to conduct voluntary drug testing in all households.

The QCPD is considering placing “Drug Free Household” stickers on houses where residents tested negative.

In 2012, a drug den ran by five Chinese nationals was found in the exclusive Ayala Alabang Village in Muntinlupa, prompting homeowners to urge residents renting out their houses to screen their leases more thoroughly.

Eleazar said the police had received reports of possible drug dens in the city although the information has yet to be validated. In August, cops discovered an abandoned “shabu” laboratory in a townhouse unit at Grace Village, Barangay Apolonio Samson.