MANILA — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde on Thursday reiterated his instructions for field units not to deviate from standard procedures in enforcing city and municipal ordinances regarding crackdown on “tambays”.
“Una ang ating mga kapulisan (First, our police) should all be guided by our police operational procedures. They have to memorize that by heart and practice it religiously by heart. Yung mga POP (police operational procedure) natin na nasa (Our POP is stated in the) manual and I’m sure (all) police stations have copies of our POP manual. They should be guided by our POP,” Albayalde told reporters.
Albayalde also said local police units should work closely with barangay officials in implementing the local laws.
“Dinagdag lang natin sa ating direktiba (We just added to the directive) with regards to the implementation of city ordinances they have to coordinate with the local barangay officials na kailangan sila nagle-lead (they must be the one to lead) and we will just give them our active support (and) participation,” he added.
“Siguro alam naman nila bilang isang commander kung sino ang lumalabag sa batas at kung sino ang hindi (As a commander, they surely know who violates the law and who doesn’t). Obvious naman siguro kung sino lang naghihintay ng tricycle o jeep o nasa kanto dahil meron siyang hinihintay na tao at yun ang sinabi nating direktiba sa kanila (It’s obvious who is just waiting for a tricycle or jeep at the side of the road or just waiting for somebody. That is our directive to them) and we reiterated also respect for human rights which is already stipulated (in our) POP,” Albayalde said.
Albayalde conceded that the crackdown is currently adding more pressure on the congestion of jails.
“Isa yan (That is one), that’s why yung mga nahuhuli natin (those we apprehend) because of these violation of ordinances, most of them are not put in jails or detention (in) police stations,” the PNP chief added. (Benjamin Pulta/PNA)
