JUST how important are the police officers in securing a series of international meetings in Cebu that, as some of them asked, the government can’t give them enough allowance?
“
Dako gyud ni’g budget ba kay international event gud ni, pero mora man hinuon mi’g gi-deprive (It should have a big budget because it’s an international event, but we feel deprived instead),” a rookie policeman said.
He is one of the more than 3,000 cops assigned to guard the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings from any untoward incidents in Cebu City.
Just like the others, PO1 Ben (real name withheld as requested) receives three packed meals and no cash allowance every day. Police officers, according to him, would sometimes guard the streets for up to 12 hours a day.
He said he does not mind sleeping on the cold concrete floor of an unfinished classroom in a public school in Barangay Mabolo as, according to him, “this is better than what we experienced in our trainings.”
He said, however, that depriving them of pocket money to spare for their daily needs while in the city seems not right.
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Di na lang sad mi moreklamo kay naa ra man mis kinaubusan, trabaho lang gud ang amo (We’re not complaining since we are at the bottom of the rank, so we just continue doing our job),” he said.
PO1 Ben and his colleagues at the Regional Public Safety Battalion 7 reached Cebu City last Friday. They were given a daily allowance of P150 last Sunday and Monday.
Meals
On Tuesday, however, the cash allowance was replaced with three packed meals in a day.
They received a cup of rice, two shanghai rolls, a boiled egg and a bottle of water for lunch yesterday.
PO1 Mart (not his real name), who stood beside PO1 Ben in an unfinished classroom yesterday, said they could have bought more from their P150 daily allowance before.
The excess money, according to them, would also help some of their colleagues who were renting boarding houses for the duration of the summit.
Because some of them had come from faraway places, the officers brought with them improvised hammock, carpets and pieces of carton to lay on the floor so they could sleep at night. Others chose to rent in pension houses, according to PO1 Ben.
These things, however, could not stop them from maintaining the city’s peace and order until the summit’s last set of meetings in October.
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Kaya ra kaayo ni (We can make it),” PO1 Ben said.
He hopes, though, that higher officers would hear their plea and find ways to help them survive in the city until the summit ends.
Budget
Amidst their complaints, the in-house auditors at the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 approved the release of the P300-allowance to the personnel who were tasked to secure the Apec meetings.
The allowance will not be given as cash, but as packed meals and water.
A few days ago a police officer, who requested anonymity, sent a text message to CCTN news program Sayri 47, complaining that they only received P150.
The officer said PNP Chief Director General Ricardo Marquez told them last week that they would receive P500.
Chief Supt. Prudencio Tom Bañas, PRO 7 director, said the P150-allowance was given to the personnel last week because they did not know the budget for each officer.
The P150-budget came from the PRO 7 funds, he added.
Last Tuesday, the police official learned that P500 was originally allocated for each police officer.
The amount, however, cannot be given in full because there are other expenses taken from the budget, such as the gasoline for vehicles and for other expenses for the regional tactical operation center, which monitors the security of Apec venues.
The allowances will be liquidated and a report will be submitted to the Commission on Audit.
Bañas said they will take care of the police officers’ needs.
There are more than 3,800 police officers securing the Apec meetings in different venues in Cebu.
The official meetings started last Aug. 24 and the final meetings will be held on Sept. 11.
Lapu-Lapu
Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza instructed Supt. Armando Radoc, the city’s acting police chief, to check on the situation of police officers deployed in the city after reports surfaced that police officers are not receiving enough meal allowance.
She said she will discuss with Radoc how the City can help.
“We can supplement (the budget for meal allowance), but we have to discuss it,” she said in her regular news conference yesterday.
But Radoc, in a separate interview, said each of the more than 400 police officers deployed in the city get packed meals worth P300 daily.
He said P300 for each police officer is more than enough.
Two caterers provide the officers their meals every day, Radoc said, instead of giving their meal allowance in cash.
Force
Some 446 police officers from other provinces in Central Visayas were fielded in Lapu-Lapu City for APEC events.
The police officers, who do 12-hour shifts, are sleeping in the barangay’s covered courts while others rented rooms.
They are deployed along the route for APEC delegates from the Mactan Cebu International Airport to Cebu City.
Radaza said the City has not released funds for expenses related to APEC, but it may help cover expenses for the police officers if needed.
Some of the APEC ministerial meetings will be held in Mactan Shangri-La’s Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City starting second wee of August.
P500 allowance for cops on APEC duty
Originally Posted by dodong69
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