Lina: QC is best managed city in RP

Quezon City is the best managed city in the Philippines, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina Jr. declared yesterday.

"Of the 115 cities in the country, Quezon City, under the leadership of Mayor (Feliciano) Belmonte, is best administered as far as financial management and support to the Philippine National Police (PNP) is concerned," Lina said during flag-raising ceremonies at the Quezon City Hall yesterday.

Lina spoke before City Hall employees during the turnover to the PNP of 25 police mobile cars with hi-tech radios, 275 9-mm Taurus pistols, 50 Mossberg M-590A pistol grip assault shotguns and 130 bulletproof vests for the city’s campaign against crime and terrorism.

The city government spent at least P50 million for the purchase of patrol cars, firearms, vests and bomb disposal equipment.

The DILG chief received the patrol cars and ordnance equipment in behalf of the Central Police District Command (CPDC).

The brand new Toyota Revo patrol cars equipped with powerful radios and Global Positioning System (GPS) will be distributed to several police units in the city while the bullet proof vests will be issued to the QC Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team and mobile patrol units, which also gets the shotguns, that will respond to any crime alert in the city. The shotguns are also the same ones issued to the US Marines.

Lina said Quezon City is the only city in the country that has equipped its patrol cars with GPS, which can pinpoint the exact location of patrol cars which is vital in responding to criminal alarm and emergencies in the city.

"In Quezon City, you can be sure that the police are on duty and you know where they are," Lina said.

The vests issued to the SWAT can defeat caliber .30 rifle and M-16 fire, while the mobile patrol’s vests can withstand shotgun and magnum pistol bullets. The Taurus pistols for issue to the CPD’s new cops comes with a five-year unconditional guarantee, and is the only pistol to have won every recent shooting competiton by the Philippine Practical Shooting Association in the 9-mm. caliber category.

Aside from Lina, Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista, PNP chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., National Capital Region Police Office chief Deputy Director General Reynaldo Velasco and CPD director Chief Superintendent Napoleon Castro were present during the turnover ceremonies.

Belmonte, for his part, assured that his administration will continue giving the necessary support to the local police to combat criminality and terrorism.

He said the city government has mobilized barangay tanods in assisting the police in the anti-criminality drive.

He said it was the tanods who tipped off the police on the presence of suspicious looking men in Barangay Bahay Toro that led to the police encounter with the suspects.

"With proper training, the tanods can be very effective partners of the police in the anti-crime drive," Belmonte said.

Lina also said that Quezon City is also now among the biggest revenue earners in the country, having generated a whopping P5.4 billion income plus over P2 billion savings after several years of deficit spending.

The Quezon City Chamber of Commerce and Industry has joined hands with the city government in giving recognition to its top 10 taxpayers, which contributed to the city being named as one of the country’s top revenue earners for 2002.