By Jennifer P. Rendon
Sixty-six uniformed personnel assigned at the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) headquarters in Camp Sumagaysay, Sta. Barbara, Iloilo will be relieved from their posts effective Feb. 15, 2020.
The order is part of IPPO’s effort to streamline its personnel who perform “redundant” office works at the headquarters.
“The relieved personnel will also be a big help to the police stations that need additional manpower,” Police Colonel Roland Vilela, Iloilo police chief, said.
The IPPO has 171 uniformed personnel on top of its non-uniformed personnel (NUP).
Vilela’s order came after he reviewed the personnel composition of IPPO.
“I was looking for personnel for deployment. For two days, hindi nila ako mabigyan. So, I made a review of why there’s a dearth of personnel,” he said.
There was no dearth of personnel at the headquarters. For one, six personnel were assigned to the radio room.
Vilela ordered to slash the number by half.
Officers were also assigned to the IPPO Human Rights Affairs Office (HRAO) on full-time capacity.
“Pwede naman that they could man the HRAO in their concurrent capacity na lang. No need to place full-time personnel at HRAO,” he said.
Vilela also learned that 15 personnel manned the IPPO entrance gate.
“I don’t think we need that many personnel,” he said while adding in jest, “puro numinipis lang ang kilay nila sa kakasaludo sa bawat pumapasok.”
Vilela said he was surprised to know that 49 personnel were in charge of the BMI (Body Mass Index) compliance.
“The main objective of the police is to prevent crime and solve it when it happens. So, I don’t think we need that number of personnel for the BMI,” he said.
The BMI compliance should not be micro-managed, he added.
“The chiefs of police could do that at their level. Sayang ang mga tao who will be assigned there just to record the BMI.”
Some personnel, he learned, allegedly took three days off a week because they don’t have any work do.
“But if they’re assigned to police stations, they could help a lot,” he said.
Vilela said the 66 will be deployed to towns with high crime rates, high crime incidents, low crime solution efficiency, among other things.
“I’m also taking into consideration other factors. So, we might pull out some personnel in other towns to be assigned to towns that need a bigger force,” he said.
While it may not be a popular move to those affected policemen, Vilela hoped that his decision would be a big boost to the province’s anti-criminality campaign.
