The Philippine National Police (PNP) formally received Monday additional equipment and mobility assets worth P569 million to enhance its patrol operations.
General Camilo Pancratius Cascolan, PNP Chief, said the newly procured equipment were part of their modernization program under the PNP PATROL Plan 2030.
"Today, we showcased the P569 million worth of enabling equipment to fill-up the requirements of PNP units for mobility, firepower, and communications, which are among the key priorities of our capacity-building, modernization, and development agenda," said Gapay, who led the blessing ceremony at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
Police Major General Emmanuel Luis Licup, chairman of the PNP's Bids and Awards Committee, presented to Cascolan 92 units of patrol jeep single cab, six units of 4x4 personnel carrier, 90 units of 1000cc heavy motorcycle, 7,700 units of Galil Ace 5.56mm basic assault rifle, and 434 units of digital hand-held radio.
Licup said the brand new police equipment were procured through a deal between the PNP National Headquarters (NHQ) Bids and Awards Committee and the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC).
The new police assets were funded from the Capability Enhancement Programs (CEPs) 2019 and 2020, Congressional Initiative Allocation (CIA) 2019, APEC 2015, and Reserve Agency Fund (RAF) 2018 with a total amount of P569,092,642.
The new patrol jeep single cabs will be distributed to various municipal police stations in Misamis Occidental.
Meanwhile, the Maritime Group (MG) and Highway Patrol Group (HPG) will receive the personnel carries and motorcycles to boost their operational capabilities.
Cascolan said the new police motorcycles will "significantly enhance the PNP’s capability for high-speed tactical police response to street-crimes" especially those perpetrated by motorcycle-riding suspects more notoriously known as "riding in tandem."
PNP data showed that a total of 1,324 incidents of street crimes were attributed to 1,958 motorcycle-riding suspects from January 1 to October 16, 2020.
It includes 424 murder cases, 24 homicide cases, 307 physical injury cases, 32 rape cases, 306 robbery cases, 100 carnaping cases, and 131 theft cases.
"Although 400 of these cases have been solved and 362 other cases were cleared with the arrest of 308 suspects and the death of 21 others, we are pursuing the arrest of 1,629 suspects who remain at-large and presumed to be still actively engaged in criminal activities," Cascolan said.
In his latest directive, Cascolan signed a memorandum to increase police visibility in streets and major thoroughfares by adding more motorcycle patrols to its existing fleet and initiate refresher training to their mounted tactical responders.
Finally, the Mobile Forces and High-Risk Police Stations will be the end-users of the assault rifles while the hand-held radios will be given to the National Capital Regional Police Office.