CEBU, Philippines – The Visayan Electric Company donated yesterday ten collapsible police outposts to the Mandaue City Police Office.
VECO donated the collapsible outposts through Mr. Sebastian Lacson, chief operating officer to Mandaue City Police Office in a ceremony yesterday morning and was gladly received by Mandaue City Police Director Senior Superintendent Petronelli Baldebrin.
Baldebrin said each collapsible outpost will be manned by PNP personnel 24/7.
He said they are called collapsible outposts because they can be relocated based on crime clock and crime map and in cases of important events in Mandaue City.
He added that this is also in compliance with Mayor Jonas Cortes' desire of maximizing police presence all over the city.
According to Mr. Lacson, each outpost costs around P25,000. The outposts were made out of scrap hard wood from VECO's posts.
He said they have long been extending help to the community but they have focused more on education such as donating school buildings and other related projects,
Lacson said when the idea of donating collapsible outposts reached them, they did not hesitate to donate them as they can be of great help in maintaining the city's peace and order.
The concept of donating the said outposts came when Mr. Roy Mission of VECO appreciated the first outpost set up along U.N. Avenue corner Plaridel St. in Barangay Umapad, Mandaue City.
The project is worth-emulating, Mission then said.
He then shared the concept to the VECO management and they unanimously decided to donate 10 collapsible outposts to MCPO for the same purpose.
Mayor Cortes, who was invited to attend the turnover ceremony, failed to show up due to other engagement but instead sent Mandaue City Councilor Demetrio Cortes Jr. who read the mayor's speech.
Mayor Cortes described VECO's donation of the outposts as very laudable, "creating a better world requires teamwork, partnership and collaboration."
He said this is another milestone in the city's pursuit for peace and order and that this manifests that the company realizes that nothing happens if we continue to be an onlooker in the promotion of peace and order.
He further said the collapsible outposts are an innovation in making police visibility felt by the local community.
"On the part of the city, we will continue to extend the necessary support," Cortes said.
Back in April, during the launching of the city's first collapsible police outpost, Superintendent Crisaleo Tolentino, MCPO deputy director for operations, said the outpost will be manned by at least two police officers round-the-clock.
Putting up collapsible police tents is one of the initiatives the Police Regional Office 7 is pushing for, Tolentino said. The Lapu-Lapu City Police Office started the project.
Apart from the police patrol activities, Tolentino said it is also important to have a structure that the people can identify with the police.
"This is only the first outpost," he said. "We will be adding more depending on the availability of resources and with the help of the local government unit and other stakeholders." He said police outposts will be placed on road intersections and near schools and financial establishments.
Mayor Cortes said he appreciated the effort of the MCPO to make its law enforcers more visible on the street, despite its lack of manpower.
He said the city has already endorsed a resolution to the Philippine National Police Cramp Crame to add more police stations and police officers in the city. MCPO has six police stations at present.