Camp Brig. Gen Salipada Pendatun, Maguindanao—The Bangsamoro Government is constructing its regional police headquarters here that is designed to be compliant with the development standards of the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Together, PNP Chief PGen Dionardo Carlos and Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ibrahim of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on Wednesday led the ground-breaking ceremonies for the construction of a modern police headquarters in the old Camp Brig. Gen Salipada K Pendatun in this town.
Minister Naguib Sinarimbo of the BARMM’s Ministry of the Interior and Local Government said the project worth 40 million is fully funded by the Bangsamoro Government through the MILG.
Sinarimbo said the leadership principle of the regional government holds that prosperity in Bangsamoro begins with a secure Bangsamoro Government.
The Police Regional Office in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR) is currently under its new regional director.
The PRO-BAR headquarters is seen as a landmark edifice of emotional healing between two former parties of a long-standing armed conflict, officials said, referring to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front-Bangsamoro Armed Forces and the Philippine Government’s state security forces.
The site on which the new headquarters building will be constructed had been the firing-pad ground for the mortal shelling “battery-positioning” of several 105 and 155 canons, mounted southeast to the then Camp Abubakar in the months-long siege of the all-out war against the Moro Islamic Liberation (MILF) in 2000.
Most of BARMM’s 118 towns do not have municipal police station (MPS) buildings compliant with Philippine National Police (PNP) standards.
PGen Carlos’ predecessor, then PNP Director-General Guillermo Eleazar made rounds of surprise visits to police headquarters and stations nationwide in most of his term.
PGen Cabalona succeeded Brig Gen Eden Ugale, who once described the region’s state of MPS as one of “institutional challenges” that have existed long before the creation of BARMM.
This camp’s regional directors, thus far, have similarly stated that with very short period of office terms, PNP chiefs could only do as much unless Congress will be able to pass a PNP Modernization Act.
The BARMM government has funded the construction of MPS buildings in 60 municipalities from a budget surplus in 2020 and 31 more MPS buildings charged to its current budgetary provisions, said Minister Sinarimbo, BARMM concurrent spokesman.
Sinarimbo said BARMM effectively answers PNP’s calls upon the LGUs to do their share in having the 100 percent attack-resilient MPS buildings constructed for police personnel serving their communities, particularly during the pandemic.
He said MILG-BARMM has earmarked the amount of P 40 million for the construction of a new 20 meters by 80 meters, two-storey PNP Regional Headquarters building at an elevated portion of this camp situated by the coastal hills of the Moro Gulf.
On the other hand, the PNP standard municipal police station building (which the region also helps build in many of its towns) is designed a two-storey edifice with roof-deck and a total floor area of more or less 288 square meters with a dimension of 12m x 8m, built at P 4.8 million, based on current bill of materials and cost of labor.
Infrastructure development such as MPS and regional police headquarters should have been a major part of the PNP Modernization Program under House Bill 2199 authored by Pangasinan Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil, a former police official, and HB 2518 authored by Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, both titled, “An Act Providing for the PNP Modernization Program and for Other Purposes.”
The proposed measures have since been referred to for study by a Technical Working Group, and a Substitute Bill has been submitted by the Committee on Public Order and Safety as of 2014, according to the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department.
Lt Col Lincoln Buklasan, chief of the PRO BAR Engineering Services, met Engineer Abibazar Sali, MILG project development officer, and Architect Gloryrose Metilla, on BARMM plans to build standard MPS buildings in all 91 towns that have either substandard MPS buildings or have none.
A PRO BAR list of MPS buildings in BARMM showed that only 27 of the region’s 118 municipalities have standard MPS buildings. The rest either have buildings for a workplace that are below the PNP standard (69) or do not have MPS buildings (22).
Carlos said a better designed and well-built MPS enhances the police capability to protect the citizens and the communities. In the PRO-BAR’s list, towns with MPS that are neither categorized into Types-A, B, or C, or the OS-Type, are cited with a “no MPS” remark.
LGUs with no standard MPS either fell or had almost fallen to terror attacks in the past.
Marawi City and Butig town, for instance, where policemen were overrun by Maute terrorists in 2017 both have no standard MPS buildings.
In Basilan, Lamitan City has none, and so are Sumisip, Lantawan, Tipo-Tipo and Tuburan towns yet to have standard MPS buildings, according to the PRO-BAR PNP engineering services’ list.