NCRPO gets P1-million food budget for cops at SONA

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police (PNP) has released a P1-million budget to cover the food expenses of its 7,800 Crowd Disturbance Management (CDM) personnel deployed to secure President Aquino’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) today.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Roberto Rosales said he requested a P2-million food budget but the PNP comptroller approved only half of their request.

“The thing is we have a decent budget for the breakfast and lunch for our men from the NCRPO,” said Rosales, noting that the PNP leadership would take care of the food needs of the augmentation forces from the Police Regional Offices and the National Capital Regional Command.

In the past, the food allowance of CDM personnel from the PNP was pegged at P30 per person. But Rosales asked the PNP officials to raise the amount because it could barely purchase decent food.

“We have now a P90 food allowance for each CDM personnel which we believe could be decent enough to cover the whole day of their deployment,” Rosales said.

The NCRPO chief said he did not approach the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) for any support “out of delicadeza.”

The Pagcor management is in the thick of an investigation into efforts by a former employee to encash a check worth P21 million which turned out to be used in the purchase of food for CDM personnel deployed during rallies from January up to last month.