CAMP DANGWA, Benguet – Police visibility has been enhanced and the peace and order situation in the Cordillera region is expected to improve with the addition of 46 brand new patrol vehicles to the fleet of the Police Regional Office-Cordillera.
Col. Freddie Lazona, chief of the Regional Logistics and Research Development Division (RLRDD), said they received 46 Toyota Hilux 4x4 personnel carriers, 19 of which will go to the Abra Provincial Police Office, Kalinga PPO, eight; Apayao PPO, three; Benguet PPO, two; and Ifugao PPO and Mountain Province PPO, seven each.
Brig. Gen. Mafelino Bazar, police regional director, said these will enable PRO-Cordillera attain its target of less than five minutes response time for police assistance.
"From the very beginning, what we want is for our staff to respond quickly to every request for help from our countrymen. Since we have new vehicles, this will be a big help for us to reach the response time we want," Bazar said.
Bazar said this latest procurement was funded through appropriations from the Capability Enhancement Program (CEP) for 2019, 2021, and 2022 totaling P761,219,682.
These vehicles have passed the functional and endurance test to ensure that specifications provided by the PNP were followed accordingly.