Gov. Pineda reminds police station chiefs of the need for greater vigilance to keep the peace of the barangays.
Photo courtesy of Ric Gonzales
BACOLOR, Pampanga – “Eliminate drug pushers or I will eliminate you.”
Thus, declared Arayat Mayor Emmanuel “Bon” Alejandrino during the Command Conference of the Pampanga Provincial Police Office led by Provincial Director Sr. Supt. Oscar Albayalde and presided by Gov. Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda and Vice Gov. Dennis Pineda at the King’s Royal Hotel here yesterday.
The statement drew a noisy applause from the assembly of police chiefs, town mayors, representatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Provincial Director Myrvi Fabia.
When pressed for an explanation from an amused Gov. Pineda, Alejandrino clarified that he has given his barangay captains 30 days to rid their barangays of drug pushers and users or they will be answerable to him.
“May paglalagyan sila (They will have their place),” he said.
Meanwhile, the 15 mayors who were present at the conference agreed to give an additional P1 million for the operational funds of the police in their respective areas for an aggressive peace and order campaign.
The funds will be culled from the provincial government’s annual aid of P5 million each for cities and municipalities in the province.
Gov. Pineda stressed the need to augment the operational funds of the police citing the rising cases of crimes involving motorcycle riding suspects and the menace of drug abuse.
For his part, Vice Gov. Pineda gave his full support vowing to lead the sangguniang panlalawigan to enact ordinances that will support the peace and order campaign.
He also announced plans to equip each municipality’s police stations with repeaters and radio handsets for an enhanced and seamless communications in preparation for calamities as well as the coming barangay elections.
Supt. Rodney Baloyo IV, chief of the Provincial Police Intelligence Branch, presented the overall peace and order situation, election preparation and gave an assessment of his report.
