NATIONAL Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Director Guillermo Eleazar said Wednesday that he will order his men to strictly monitor indiscriminate firing of guns as well as the sale and use of illegal firecrackers in their areas of operations.
The police force, he said, is now focusing on the security preparations for the New Year’s Day revelry in Metro Manila.
Eleazar said a command conference with all the chiefs of police and district directors in Metro Manila was conducted to address the problems commonly encountered during the New Year’s Day festivities.
Director General Oscar Albayalde, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, earlier announced that the firearms of the 192,000-strong police force will not be sealed for the second straight year.
He said this is to show that the police are responsible enough not to indiscriminately fire their guns during the celebration.
Besides, Albayalde said the number of recorded cases of indiscriminate firing has shown a steady decline although he has yet to provide data to back his claims.
As for Eleazar, he said the NCRPO is aiming to achieve a zero-casualty record in cases of indiscriminate firing of guns.
“So ang gagawin natin ngayon, we maximize the deployment of troops from the (NCRPO) headquarters pati na sa NHQ (National Headquarters in Camp Crame),” he explained.
“We will deploy them in areas na prevalent or most common ang pagkakaroon ng indiscriminate firing,” he added.
Eleazar also said he will order the ground commanders to strictly monitor the selling and using of illegal firecrackers.
“Hindi lang tayo focus sa pagpapaputok ng baril pati ‘yung pagpapaputok ng ipinagbabawal na firecracker,” Eleazar said,
“Mahalaga ang police visibility, first for deterrent; and second is for immediate response kung kailangan ng police assistance,” he added. (Martin A. Sadongdong)
