Deputy Director Arturo Cacdac Jr., National Police deputy chief for operations, revealed this during the recent Communication and News Exchange Forum in Quezon City.

“Pursuant to our capability enhancement program, we need to procure various types of equipment,” Cacdac said in Filipino, “but the issue is that we may not be able to [respond] to 100 percent of our equipment needs.”

He said apart from firearms, the National Police needs to acquire vehicles, communications and forensic equipment. Buying a few of these in a year’s time would leave the force with an incomplete supply of each type of equipment.

This is why, Cacdac said, Bartolome proposed that firearms procurement be prioritized so that at the end of the year the agency can report to the President that all policemen have been issued service firearms—and that firepower in the police force will no longer be a problem.

Ask if there are still policemen who have yet to be issued official service firearms, Cacdac said, “yes.” He added: “That is really what should be issued to a new police appointee—a police badge and service firearm.”  The proposal is still being studied.

Procurement of firearms is part of the continuous buildup of the police equippage program of the National Police, which aims to maximize utilization of resources with the initial goal of filling up the minimum requirement of one short firearm per policeman. This, in turn, is part of Batolome’s 10-point action plan, which is “aligned” with the 16 strategic programs defined during the term of former National Police chief Jesus Verzosa.

He said National Police chiefs in the succeeding years will be faced with the same problem of lack of firepower if this is not resolved at this time.

(Jonathan Mayuga)