Not enough guns for cops, says incoming PNP chief
BINALONAN–Just as the provincial government has completed its distribution of shotguns to the more than 1,000 barangay chairmen in Pangasinan, the police chief-in-waiting admitted there are not enough guns for the country’s police force.
Deputy Director General Jesus Versoza, a Pangasinense who was invited by the mayors’ league here last week, said they are looking at another five years before they are able to address the shortage of firearms even with the P10 billion allocated by the national government for a capability enhancement program.
Apart from firearms, Verzosa said the Philippine National Police (PNP) Force also needs more patrol cars and boats.
Meanwhile, Verzosa also said the PNP will only be able to meet the international police-population ratio of 1:500 by the year 2017.
Verzosa, PNP’s deputy chief for administration and the next in line as PNP chief when Director General Avelino Razon Jr. retires at the end of September, told local newsmen the current rate of the PNP to the country’s population of 80 million is 1:745.
“(It’s) way, way below the international standard,” said Versoza, who hails from Dasol.
To meet the ratio, he said the PNP will have to recruit 10,000 policemen every year for the next nine years, but this largely depends on the budget that will be allocated.
Over the last few years, he said the PNP has been recruiting an average of 5,000 policemen as mandated under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) but sometimes they’re able to ask for additional 2,000 or 3,000 recruits.
Verzosa was invited by the mayors for a discussion on various police concerns, particularly security issues in the wake of the gunslaying of Agno Mayor Arthur Cabantac last August.
Meanwhile, the mayors passed a resolution commending the efforts of Pangasinan Provincial Director, Senior Supt. Isagani Nerez and the Task Force Cabantac for the identification and filing of murder charges against three suspects in the Cabantac slay.
The mayors have put up an additional P250,000 reward for the identification and capture of the mastermind. Earlier, they approved another P250,000 for the capture of the perpetrators.#
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