Art of delegation President Rodrigo Duterte’s determination in the war on drugs is matched by his complete trust in the men he appointed to implement the campaign, according to Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde. ROY PELOVELLO ">Art of delegation President Rodrigo Duterte’s determination in the war on drugs is matched by his complete trust in the men he appointed to implement the campaign, according to Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde. ROY PELOVELLO

President Rodrigo Duterte’s distaste for “micromanaging” government agencies contributed greatly to the successes of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in accomplishing its constitutional mandate of maintaining peace and order.

During yesterday’s “Straight Talk with Daily Tribune,” PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde credited Mr. Duterte, who is also the Commander in Chief, for the huge improvement in the police service.

Albayalde cited the leadership style of the President as “not dipping his fingers into the internal affairs of the 190,000-strong organization, unlike other leaders.”

“He never intervened in the PNP affairs, not even in the assignments or reassignments of senior officers. He lets the PNP leadership decide, but we are answerable to him. We are accountable for our actions and decisions,” Albayalde said.

“That is very important in an organization in focusing on the mission and on the performance of our mandate,” he stressed.

The PNP chief said the President only issues general guidance to the police leadership and it is up to them how to execute the directive.

As a result, Albayalde said the PNP recorded a huge improvement in addressing criminality in the country.

Since Mr. Duterte assumed in 2016, the PNP managed to bring down the crime volume from more than 600,000 to 400,000 in 2018.

He said Mr. Duterte’s all-out campaign against illegal drugs contributed greatly to the downtrend in the crime volume.

“For 2018, crime volume went down by more than 200,000 cases throughout the country… That is greatly because of the President’s all-out campaign against illegal drugs,” Albayalde said.

He particularly cited Quezon City, perennially tagged as the “carnapping capital of the country,” where there was almost no incident of carjacking last year.

“That only proves that those involved in illegal drugs are also involved in other crimes, like carnapping and robbery,” he said.

Police matters Daily Tribune’s Executive Editor Cris Martinez, Associate Editor John Henry Dodson, Senate reporter Mario Mallari and Manila beat scribe Pat Santos get a rundown of peace and order measures from Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde. ROY PELOVELLO Full backing

Albayalde also cited the President’s full support to the programs promoting the welfare of men in uniform and enhancing the capability of the PNP.

As promised, the President increased the salary of PNP personnel, doubling the pay of the lowest ranking cops.

From P2 billion, the PNP chief said Mr. Duterte raised to P7 billion the fund intended for PNP’s Capability Enhancement Program. He said the agency has already acquired a brand-new Bell helicopter while the purchase of four more brand-new choppers are in the pipeline.

He said 90 percent of the 190,000 PNP troops now have their sidearms or pistols while all police stations now have at least one mobile patrol each.

“We are very thankful to our President… His all-out support really motivates us to perform better,” he explained.

Albayalde added the PNP plans to acquire five brand-new helicopters by the end of the year.

“We will have brand-new helicopters. This year we will acquire two by June and another two by the end of the year,” Albayalde said.

A twin-engine Bell 429 helicopter will be part of the three brand-new helicopters ordered by the PNP from Texas-based Bell Helicopter Textron after undergoing public bidding last June 2017.

“This year, we will have the other two (helicopters) by June and another by the end of the year,” he said.

Apart from helicopters, PNP also plans to acquire drones and has allotted P56 million for the procurement at P80,000 each drone.

Albayalde also bared the acquisition of firepower mobility and force protection equipment worth P694,908,780 last Monday.

The latest procurement is for the goal of the PNP “to intensify their operational readiness and police visibility of the PNP towards achieving a more capable, effective and credible police force in line.”

The new acquisitions include 11,245 units Undershirt Vest Level IIA, 4,169 units Waistcoat Vest Level IIA with 2 Plates Level IV, 133 units High Frequency/Single Side Band Manpack, 700 units Rotary Blade/Propelled Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, 20 units Mini Bus and 2,000 units Taurus TS9 Striker Fired Pistol were procured under the Capability Enhancement Program Funds for 2017 and 2018 and the contingency fund.

“We started from P2 billion. Now, the support we are receiving doubled. From the P2 billion Capability Enhancement Program (fund), it became P6.7 billion,” Albayalde said.

“We are very much thankful to our president (for the support),” he added.

As of now, the PNP, through the directive of the President, aims to put a helicopter in every region.