by Christopher Lloyd T. Caliwan, Philippine News Agency | Tuesday, 28 June 2016
Outgoing PNP Chief Director General Ricardo Marquez on Tuesday said that he exceeded self imposed goals as the 20th chief of the Philippine National Police.
“So today, Mr. President, as I end my tour of duty as the 20th Chief of the Philippine National Police, permit me to briefly present to you what we have achieved during my term. I believe I have been able to deliver more than what I promised, simply because everyone kept faith with me, from the highest officer in our headquarters to the last beat patroller in Basco or Simunul,” Marquez said during his tour of duty report to President Benigno S. Aquino III, who is the guest speaker.
Marquez, who was posted as PNP Chief last July 2015, adopted B2B PNP or Back to Basics, meaning of Patrulya ng Pamayanan, as the backbone of policing and made Oplan Lambat-Sibat the fulcrum of crime prevention and crime- fighting operations.
To support the personnel requirements for patrolling and increased police presence, Marquez directed all Police Regional Offices (PROs) to create and activate Patrol Operations Sections in all Units and City Police Offices nationwide.
“Beginning in January 2016, we have downloaded more than 25,000 personnel with the rank of PO1 and Police Inspector from PROs and NHQ offices. This means more than 25, 000 personnel are on our streets waging war against crime,” he said.
He added that by October last year, the manual on Managing Police Operations Lambat-Sibat was cascaded to all regions and provinces, and as of April 2016, Lambat-Sibat was already launched in 10 other regions after it was successfully piloted in NCRPO, PRO 3 and PRO 4A.
The Lambat’s crime prevention strategy focuses on mobile and beat patrols, Oplan Bakal and Oplan Sita for loose firearms, and the serving of warrants. Sibat’s intelligence-driven police operations and dedicated tracker teams aim to arrest identified Most Wanted Persons, repeat offenders and members of organized criminal groups.
“Mr. President, I am pleased to report that as a result of these interventions in Metro Manila, crimes against property such as robbery, theft, carnapping and motornapping went down by an impressive 81 percent from a weekly average of 1,012 in June of 2014 to just around 200 in recent weeks,” he said.
He added that the weekly averages of crimes against persons also decreased significantly for the same period: homicide declined from 13 to only two 2, physical injury dwindled from 169 to 70, and murder, which is more difficult to prevent because of element of premeditation, dropped from 35 to 20.
The outgoing PNP Chief said that these crime figures had been validated by crime auditors from higher headquarters who had been fielded to the police stations to check if the records on their police blotters tally with the crime figures they reported every month to the national headquarters and the police regional offices.
He also reported that in the national level, overall crime volume went down by 10 percent, while the volume of Index Crime, particularly murder, homicide, robbery, theft, motornapping and carnapping or the so-called “7 focused crime” being addressed by Lambat-Sibat declined by 27 percent during the same period.
From July 2015 to February of this year, the implementation of Lambat-Sibat in NCRPO, Police Regional Office 3 and 4A led to the arrest of the combined total of 1,161 most wanted persons, 246 criminal gang members. And in a span of 10 weeks from February 29 to May 8 of this year another 1,740 most wanted persons and 92 criminal gang members were arrested nationwide.
From January to mid of June this year, Marquez said that the PNP have already accounted more than 18,000 illegal drug personalities and confiscated more than 680,000 grams of shabu.
“So from January to June of this year, 183 na po ang napatay sa mga armadong sagupaan ng ating kapulisan laban sa mga clandestine laboratory workers, drug dealers, pushers and users. Inuulit ko po: 183 fatalities so far from armed encounters,” he explained.
Marquez also reported to President Aquino that he brought licensing and registration services closer to the door step of legitimate gun holders by activating Regional Civil Security Units. Likewise, construction of the CSG One- Stop Shop Building, which cost around Php73 million, began last March.
He said that it would be finished at the end of the year while another Php21 million was released for the construction of Regional Civil Security Unit (RCSU) offices in 8 regions, and the revised implementing rules and regulations for RA 10591, the new manual of operations in manning one-stop shop and training courses for RCSU personnel, had been finalized and being executed.
Marquez also expressed gratitude to the President for choosing him to lead the security during the major events in the country such as Papal Visit, 44 Asia-Pacific Economic meetings in nine different venues around the country, the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Metro Manila in November 2015, the 51st International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu in January 2016, and of course the National and Local Elections last month.
“It was indeed a challenge, but we pulled it off with a zero incident as you have directed Mr. President. I was blessed by that experience, though I had no inkling that it was just my dry run for leading another joint task force and that as Commander of the APEC Security Task Force. In APEC we deployed a total of 6,445 officers and personnel who once again achieved a goal of zero untoward incident,” said Marquez.
“To His Excellency, President Benigno S Aquino III, thank you very much for your trust and confidence. It was a great honor working for you. The 2015 APEC Economic Leaders Meeting was a defining moment in our history, and the lavish praise we received for hosting it was worth all those sleepless nights,” said Marquez.
He also thanked President Aquino for strong support to the PNP in terms of capability enhancement program of the national police force.
He said that apart from the one PNP personnel to one short firearm ratio and the delivery of the mobility assets to all police units nationwide consisting of patrol jeeps, light transport vehicles, heavy duty trucks.
More than 27,000 of units of our basic assault rifle, again Mr. President, for the first time in our history we’re going to procure brand new basic assault rifle more than sufficient to arm our public safety forces. The firearms identification system for deployment in Mindanao, the Php830 Million communications system project that will ensure the availability of handheld radios for our patrollers in all police stations nationwide, and of course Mr. President, the Php2.7-billion Capability Enhancement Project for the Special Action Force,” he noted.
“The past eleven months and two weeks were the culmination of a most fulfilling career, thanks to so many special people who supported me and made my journey so much easier. I know that these words will never be enough to express my gratitude to all of you, but permit me to say them just the same,” Marquez to his closing remarks.
Meanwhile, Marquez advise his predecessor to be confident on your decision because you will be the father of the PNP.
“On July 1, a new Chief will assume office. Police Chief Superintendent Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, I believe you also have a destiny to fulfill. Heaven has ordained you for greater things as well. Malayo na ang narating mo, ang tinaguriang mascot ng Alpha Company. Noong mga panahong tumatakbo-takbo ka sa Borromeo Field, siguro hindi pumasok sa isip mo na darating ang araw na ikaw ay magiging Chief, PNP. Tatlong tulog na lang, padre de familia ka na ng buong PNP. As such, you will be faced in making tough decisions, and I am confident you will do what is right,” Marquez said
“I hope that you will have a better chance of finally getting Congress to pass into law our proposals for the PNP Reorganization and Modernization Act,” he added.
Marquez, who retired for the service two months ahead of his 56th birthday, the mandatory retirement age, has been awarded the Medalya ng Kagitingan sa Paglilingkod, Medalya ng Pambihirang Paglilingkod, Gallery of Awards, Command Saber.
Marquez, a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) “Sandigan” Class 1982 will be replaced by PMA Class 1986 member, Chief Supt. Ronald dela Rosa, who will formally assumes the top police post this week.
De la Rosa, who was chosen by President-elect Rodrigo Duterte as the next PNP chief.
Marquez, formally relinquish command as the 20th Chief of the PNP upon his retirement, culminating 38 years of service in the police organization. (PNA)
