NCRPO steps up bus security amid heists

MANILA, Philippines - The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said yesterday it is in the process of coordinating with Metro bus companies regarding the implementation of heightened security measures in the wake of recent robberies of bus passengers.

NCRPO spokesman Senior Superintendent Dionardo Carlos said the NCRPO is just waiting for bus firms to discuss the matter first among themselves and identify key security areas before they engage in a dialogue.

According to Carlos, the NCRPO has been trying to invite the bus companies to discuss security matters since the bus robbery in Las Piñas early this month.

In that robbery, armed men boarded an HL Transit bus and at gunpoint, divested the passengers of their valuables. The robbers stashed their loot in a sack, earning for them the monicker “Sako” or Sack Gang.

“Immediately following that robbery in Las Piñas, we have been asking the bus companies to sit down with us and study possible preventive security measures. But they tell us that they need to discuss this first with their member companies,” Carlos said.

Last Friday, armed men, using the same modus operandi robbed passengers of a RRCG bus in Taytay, Rizal and passengers of a Philippine Corinthian bus in Mandaluyong City.

Among the preventive security measures being proposed by the NCRPO is the intensified deployment of undercover bus marshals.

Carlos admitted that with the overall security plan being implemented by the NCRPO, especially with the Christmas season approaching, police personnel are being deployed on a priority basis.

“But with what has been happening, there is a need to re-study the deployment. We might need to deploy more bus marshals and re-evaluate the security system,” he said.

Carlos said bus drivers and conductors may also be trained to contact policemen in the streets and ask for assistance without the robbers noticing.

Meanwhile, the NCRPO is looking at the possibility that the robbers who staged the recent heists are just “copycats” of the original gang.

According to NCRPO chief Director Leocadio Santiago, the original gang has long been neutralized by police and newer, smaller groups are just copying the modus operandi of the original.