ILOILO City – Personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Western Visayas are now wearing body cameras during operations.
“These are beneficial both to the police and to the suspects during operations,” said Police Lieutenant Colonel Arnel Solis, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6).
Alleged abuses or lapses would be easy to verify “because all are recorded,” he explained.
Policemen have undergone training on how to use the body cameras properly.
In the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO), spokesperson Police Captain Shella Mae Sangrines said six police stations and other units started using the cameras, especially in serving arrest warrants and in drug operations.
“All doubts will be erased,” Sangrines said.
The ICPO received 16 body cameras. These were distributed to six police stations and the City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU).
The national office sent a total of 256 body cameras to 16 police stations in Region 6.
Of the units, 192 were delivered to 12 police stations under the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO), 32 to Iloilo and 16 each to the Roxas City police station and Bacolod City Police Office.
Here are the police stations that received the body cameras:
NEGROS
* Bago City police station
* Cadiz City police station
* Escalante City police station
* Himamaylan City police station
* Kabankalan City police station
* La Carlota City police station
* Sagay City police station
* San Carlos City police station
* Silay City police station
* Sipalay City police Station
* Talisay City Police Station
* Victorias City Police Station
* Bacolod City Police Office
ILOILO
* Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO)
* Passi City police station
CAPIZ
* Roxas City police station
Cops wearing body cameras would be unable to switch them off, and even if they do, it would be switched on again by a “controller” at the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) command centers.
The only limitation of the camera is its eight-hour battery life and these footages will be used as court evidence.
DELAYED PROJECT
The last time the public heard about body cameras for the country’s police force was October 2020 when some 2,600 units purchased were supposed to be tested.
The mandatory use of body cameras in police operations has long been delayed – proposed in 2017 following the police killing of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos, funded after Congress approved a P334 million budget in 2018, and awarded to a contractor in 2019.
To fast-track the use of body cams during police operations, several senators called for the immediate passage of Senate Bill 42, or The Body Camera Act that requires law enforcers to activate the devices at the beginning of operations or at the first reasonable opportunity when there is an immediate threat to life and safety.
Lawmakers from the House of Representatives’ Makabayan bloc also called for an investigation on the delay in the “purchase and use” of police body cameras.
Under House Resolution No. 1480, the Makabayan bloc pointed out that P334 million was allocated for such under the 2018 national budget./PN
