PNP to provide tourism security to IPU delegates extending stay in RP

Now that the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) general assembly hosted by the Philippines has concluded, the security focus for visiting delegates has shifted from the halls of a convention center in Metro Manila to the country’s prime vacation spots.

The Philippine National Police is now making every effort to ensure that some well-earned summer downtime for foreign parliamentarians, who opted to visit here for several more days, goes off without a hitch. The PNP successfully provided security for the 112th IPU convention held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City from April 3 to 8.

PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil said nearly half of the 1,400 IPU delegates and their entourages have extended their stay for travel to various tourist destinations.

"Our security has shifted from the IPU assembly mode to tourism mode," Bataoil said.

Most of the IPU delegates are already in Boracay, Palawan, Cebu and Bohol in the Visayas, as well as in Tagaytay in Cavite City, Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro and Subic Bay in Zambales.

Police regional commands in western and central Visayas, Calabarzon area in Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon have been tasked to ensure that their visits will be safe and secure, Bataoil said.

In coordination with the tourism department, all police regional offices in these four regions have been required to deploy maximum security personnel, he added. PNP chief Director General Arturo Lomibao lauded the 10,000-strong police force deployed to make sure IPU delegates were safe in their respective hotels and areas along Roxas Blvd. during the assembly.

The event turned out to be generally peaceful, though there were "some isolated cases" of disturbance, said Lomibao.

Bataoil quoted the PNP chief as telling officers and men of Task Force Parliament: "I commend you for a job well done."

Only two minor security infractions were reported during the entire event, Bataoil noted.

Belgian delegate Georges Brion was robbed and mugged in Pasay City last Tuesday. A few days before the summit opened, a wife of a Kenyan delegate, Joyce Ligale, was swindled out of P13,000 by a moneychanger in Manila’s Ermita.

Meanwhile, encouraged by the increased arrival of foreign visitors to the country, the PNP is putting up at least 10 "world class" police stations in key tourists destinations.

PNP chief for director staff Deputy Director Oscar Calderon said the first beneficiary of the PNP program would be the island resort of Boracay. "The police station in Boracay will be like that in the ‘Baywatch’ television series," Calderon said, noting that facilities will be complete and modernized.