PNP News Releases 2006

CALDERON ORDERS TIGHTER SECURITY MEASURES IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT

PNP Chief, Director General Oscar C Calderon, today reminded police units in Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon to implement stringent security measures in public transportation especially those traveling along the North and South tollways.

Calderon said the latest incidents of robbery on board provincial buses plying the expressways should prompt police authorities to double their efforts in securing passengers and commuters.

Among other security measures, Calderon ordered the fielding of police detectives and undercover operatives aboard buses as a deterrent against robbery and hold-up gangs who prey on passengers.

The Chief PNP said this security system will be implemented in time for the Yuletide season when police expect heavier commuter traffic to and from the provinces.

In Metro Manila, the NCRPO will continue to conduct mandatory inspection of all outbound passengers and cargo in terminals of provincial buses.

Likewise, bus terminals in key points in Central Luzon and Calabarzon will also implement similar security measures for Manila-bound provincial buses.

Along the routes, the PNP will set-up checkpoints to conduct random inspection of buses. Drivers are also advised to pull over if they sense something suspicious about their passengers.

The PNP is encouraging operators of provincial buses to adapt a system of terminal-to-terminal operation to insure that all passengers boarding their buses have undergone inspection.

Calderon noted that in the latest bus robbery along the North Luzon tollway wherein an Air Force enlisted man was killed by hold-uppers, the six gang members which include a woman boarded the northbound bus by pairs from three different points along EDSA and announced the hold-up as soon as the bus entered the expressway.

Last month, operatives of the Pampanga Police provincial Office busted six members of a robbery/hold-up gang in Mabalacat who are believed responsible in a string of bus hold-up cases in Central Luzon.