(File photo)
MANILA – Some of the newly-procured body-worn cameras (BWCs) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) will be utilized during the final State-Of-the-Nation-Address (SONA) of President Rodrigo R. Duterte on July 26.
"For Metro Manila, our different police stations were issued BWCs and as per arrangement, ito 'yung mga sinasabi natin na mga events na gagamitin natin sila, (the (SONA) is one of the events that we are saying that the BWCs can help secure) and aside from that meron tayong alternative recording devices, itong mga cellphones na gagamitin (we have alternative recording devices like cell phones that we can use)," PNP chief, Gen. Guillermo Eleazar told reporters in Camp Crame on Friday.
He added that the BWCs will help the police tasked with securing the SONA in documenting the security situation in their posts.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief, Maj. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr., also said the BWCs will also be used to monitor the situation in vital areas to determine which of these would need more police visibility.
The PNP has so far distributed 2,696 BWCs to around 171 police stations and units nationwide.
"Accordingly, we will be deploying around 15,000 personnel, including na itong mga augmentation sa atin (this include our augmentation forces), and for the PNP, there will be around 11,800 police personnel, 9,900 or almost 10,000 coming from NCRPO and around 1,900 coming from other units," Eleazar added.
He added that the police force would be augmented by 3,300 non-PNP personnel or those coming from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, and other force multipliers. (with Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)
