MPD has 300-strong ‘gunless society’

SINCE February, PO1 MARVIN Berina has been patrolling the streets of Manila armed with prayers instead of a gun.

Being one of the new recruits assigned by the National Capital Region Police Office to the Manila Police District’s (MPD) Don Bosco precinct, Berina has yet to be issued a firearm despite the dangers he faces daily.

“To tell you the truth, all I have is my rosary. That’s it,” Berina told the Inquirer on Tuesday.

The rookie law enforcer is one of around 300 Manila policemen who go up against criminals every day without any weapon, according to Senior Supt. Joel Coronel, MPD director.

According to Coronel, who heads the 4,652-strong “Manila’s Finest”—a moniker for the MPD—most of these unarmed officers are new recruits.

“I know of many others who don’t have guns yet, not only here in my precinct. There’s a woman here who is my junior; she has no gun as well,” Berina said.

Asked what he does to protect himself when he goes on duty from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Berina said he makes sure he has at least one armed companion with him. “But of course, it would be better if I had a gun. I think we should all have one because of what we do.”

His longtime appeal has apparently reached City Hall as Mayor Joseph Estrada on Tuesday announced the purchase of P20-million worth of firearms for the MPD.

The funding came from the P137 million Estrada allotted for the local police this year, Coronel said.

“There should no longer be a ‘pulis patola,’” Estrada said in a statement, referring to policemen in the old days who were armed with just a baton instead of a firearm. The term is also used to describe underperforming officers.

According to Coronel, the P20 million from the city government was used to purchase the following: 400 Glock 9-mm semi-automatic pistols; 60 M-4 carbines which are shorter and considered lighter variants of the M-16 A2 Armalite assault rifle; eight Sig Sauer sniper rifles; ammunition and “other necessary gear and equipment.”

He said that the new weapons would be distributed to his unarmed men soon. “Unlike other police districts in Metro Manila and in the provinces, we can now say that there (will be) no more unarmed cops here in Manila.”

Berina said he hoped to receive his gun soon, and looked forward to the day he would no longer have to rely on an armed partner for protection.

There is, after all, only one way to do his job: “We need to secure the streets so we need to be at the forefront, not the back, all the time.”