SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga , Philippines – Governor-elect Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda said she will allot P20 million annually for Pampanga police to strengthen their capability in their campaign against criminality in the province.
This was disclosed by Pineda during the 30th founding anniversary of the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry held in Clark Free-port over the weekend.
She said that the P20-million will come from the intelligence fund of the provincial government.
The first woman elected governor said she allotted the said amount following spate of killings and other crime incidents in Pampanga.
“In my desire to solve numerous killings and other criminalities in our province, I decided to allot P20 million,” Pineda said.
This will allay the fears of the business sector as killings of businessmen and other personalities in Pampanga are victims, Pineda said.
Pineda said she is serious in solving of the killings here, that is why she is allocating funds to empower and strengthen the provincial police. Pineda said she is aware of the scarcity of police officers due to lack of funds.
She said the supposed ratio of population per police is 1:1,500 but with Pampanga’s population of 1.9 million, the ratio is 1:1,800.
Pineda told PamCham officers and members she hopes 100 percent support and cooperation from all stakeholders specially the business sector to her administration to minimize the surge of criminalities in the province.
She said her administration will fully cooperate with the local police, all elected provincial officials down to the barangay level to unify their efforts in curbing criminality despite limited budget.