DAVAO CITY – Members of the Davao City Police Auxiliary, who already reached one-year volunteering as policemen, will get a bigger allowance as the city government will start paying them a minimum wage rate of PHP340 per day plus Philhealth insurance coverage.
This was announced by Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Thursday during her Thanksgiving Boodle Fight with police volunteers at the Davao City Police Office (DCPO). There are five police volunteers serving each of the city’s 182 barangays.
The mayor’s announcement drew applause from the police volunteers, whose sacrifices serving their communities have been recognized by both the city government officials and the city police leadership.
Duterte-Carpio said the budget for the raise will be included in the preparation of the annual budget. Currently, each police volunteer receives PHP6,000.
With the increase, a police volunteer will receive over PHP8,000.
The police volunteers are city-paid but the recruitment and training on basic police work were conducted by the DCPO. Their function is to support the police in community policing, increase police visibility in the barangays to ensure a safe and secured city.
The mayor said police volunteers have invested their blood, sweat, and tears to ensure a safe city.
“Lisod inyong trabaho. Nakita nako inyong kahago (Your work is difficult. I can see your hard work),” she said.
City Chief of Police Senior Supt. Alexander Tagum said the police volunteers helped increase security deployment in police operations resulting in the drop of crime incidents since they were hired in May last year.
Tagum said DCPO doubled police visibility and patrol in many areas. They also serve as an added intelligence source from the communities.
He said the police volunteering system is the most effective community empowerment. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)
