Mayor Nerito Santos of Talavera, Nueva Ecija, for instance, aired the shortage of policemen in his town which is a first class municipality. The town, adjacent to this highly urbanizing city, has only 43 policemen.
The town should have at least 60 to 100 cops, according to town police chief, Supt. Miguel San Pedro.
For San Leonardo, Mayor Elan Nagano said their police station is about 80 percent completed but the construction has been stalled for quite some time. He called on Dela Cruz to vouch for the payment and allow the contractor to continue the work.
Mayor Crisanto Legaspi of Penaranda, Nueva Ecija, on the other hand, said the police in his town has only one old Willy’s jeep as service vehicle. The chief of police, he said, has been doing good in his job but the police fall short due to lack of mobility.
Apprehensive about the tradition of reshuffling chiefs of police every time high ranking officials are changed, Legaspi requested Dela Cruz to spare his chief of police from the movement.
Sixteen mayors attended the dialogue among Dela Cruz, Senior Supt. Ricardo Marquez, Nueva Ecija provincial police director, and the town and city mayors.
In response, Dela Cruz said he will ask his staff to follow up the concerns.
At least 90 new policemen will be deployed in Nueva Ecija soon, he said, adding he would even send elements from the regional mobile group (RMG) if needed. He thanked Nagano for the offer to resume the construction of the police station.
After meeting the mayors, Dela Cruz held a conference with chiefs of police in the province.
