PNP, mall guards to hold
joint security exercises
TO prevent a repeat of the daring Greenbelt 5 robbery and ensure the safety of thousands of shoppers this Christmas season, the Metro Manila police will stage joint exercises with security guards of shopping malls and other big business establishments.
"The joint simulated exercise will test how our personnel as well as private security guards react to various situations such as robbery. We just want to be ready for any eventuality, especially with the approaching Christmas season," said Chief Supt. Roberto Rosales, director of the National Capital Region Police Office.
Rosales said the exercise will also measure the response time of authorities to emergency calls.
The NCRPO’s five district commanders supervising the Manila and Quezon City Police Departments, and the Southern, Northern, and Eastern Police Districts have been directed to come up with plans for simulated exercises in their jurisdiction.
The NCRPO earlier said they have already beefed up its surveillance system by using close circuit television cameras that can monitor 2,000 strategic areas of the metropolis.
Rosales had been vocal in his criticism of the handling by Greenbelt 5 security guards of the Alvin Flores robbery gang’s noontime raid of the Rolex watch shop in the mall last Oct. 18. One robber was killed by two police escorts of Taguig Mayor Freddie Tinga who was at the mall at the time, but none of the mall’s 33 guards lifted a finger to assist the outnumbered cops who were using only pistols against the gang’s high-powered guns.
The Greenbelt 5 guards belong to the Emirate Security Specialist firm of former PNP chief Edgardo Aglipay. Aglipay said his guards placed the safety of the shoppers first. – Ashzel Hachero