REYES SETS THREE-MONTH TIMETABLE TO STOP HULIDAP, KOTONG, COPS

Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes gave himself and the
Philippine National Police (PNP) three months to clear the national police
force of a substantial number of so-called "hulidap" and "kotong" cops - or
those engaged in extortion.

Reyes earlier vowed to crack down on PNP personnel engaged in mulcting,
extortion and shakedown activities in a bid to win back the public's trust
in the police organization.

Recognizing that these scalawag police personnel's rampant extortion
activities posed a "threat to the common tao," Reyes said "we have to work
on these very, very slowly - but very surely."

"We want to deliver the message that when we say something, we can deliver.
We don't want people to say that this is only for photo opportunity, that we
cannot sustain it. What we start, we will finish and sustain," Reyes told
the regular breakfast forum of the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC) at the
Ristorante La Dolce Fontana in Greenhills, San Juan.

Reyes said he would mobilize all personnel and resources of the PNP to carry
out his drive to cleanse the organization.

"I have received the commitment of the entire leadership of the PNP that
this effort will be supported, pursued, and pursued to its legal
conclusion," he said. "I am giving the organization and myself three months
to make this happen within the Metro Manila area."

While he admitted that "we cannot guarantee zero kotong (mulcting) cops, we
are saying there will be general, wide acceptance that we have, to a large
extent, minimized kotong cops and hulidap (shakedown) police. One rogue cop
is one rogue cop too many - that is our goal."

For the revived campaign to clean up the ranks of the PNP to succeed, a
"sense of national community under the rule of law" must be developed,
nurtured and contributed to by each Filipino, Reyes said.

He has ordered National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director
Ricardo de Leon to continue increasing police visibility in key areas in the
metropolis.

De Leon, who was also a guest in the forum, said the NCRPO recently launched
its tourist cop project to support the DILG's efforts to increase police
visibility.

With the help of local government executives and the public, Reyes said, the
increased presence of police officers walking the beat should help deter
crime.

"We can attain this objective if there is close collaboration, cooperation
and relationship between local executives, the law enforcement agencies and
the community at large," he said.

Under the tourist cop project, De Leon said, beat policemen are deployed in
groups of four to popular business areas in Araneta Center in Cubao and
Eastwood City in Libis, Quezon City and the upscale Ayala Center in Makati
City's financial and business district.

De Leon also said checkpoints in various strategic areas in Metro Manila and
nearby provinces are manned with the "sternest" PNP personnel who exercise
the "utmost courtesy" in the course of their duties without causing the
public any inconvenience.

Reyes also bared his plan to put up community police assistance centers to
replace precincts nationwide. These community police centers will be manned
by police personnel 24 hours a day.

He said the backing and support of the business community has helped local
government executives, including mayors and congressmen, finance the
construction of these police assistance centers at a cost of P30,000 each.