THE Philippine National Police alerted all security agencies and their guards across the nation to step up safety measures in anticipation of the high volume of people and vehicles during the Christmas season.
Senior Supt. Jose Mario Espino, chief of the PNP Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agencies (PNP-SOSIA), said they placed all days of “ber months” as “red letter days,” raising the alert level for the expected convergence of people, especially in the malls.
“Mandate to the security agencies—SOSIA having the mandate, to regulate the private security agencies to make sure that they are executing the security service operational procedures especially these ber months, we consider these red letter days in the calendar of the PNP,” Espino said.
“Over the years, we have launched the project—the security guard visibility project wherein guards are now required to wear their prescribed uniforms in the malls, hotels, public convergence because some of those in the malls are wearing barong-type uniform,” he added.
The PNP-SOSIA chief noted that during this time of “ber months,” they suspended the special type of uniforms required to wear, the prescribed security guard uniform as a deterrent in the would-be perpetrators of theft, robbery and other untoward incidents.
The security guards in the entrances of the malls, hotels and other public convergence were required to wear their security guard uniform starting October this year.
Likewise, Espino said that they are encouraging the security guards to help the local police set up the PNP assistance centers and at least provide one security guard in tandem with the PNP, specifically those PNP assistance counters in the malls.
At the same time, he added, they have issued an advisory memorandum to the security agencies to beef up their security measures because of this Christmas season.
Espino added that they would also conduct “surprise inspections” in the various establishments to make sure that the security guards are complying with the guidelines set by the PNP-SOSIA pertaining to the inspection of customers entering the guarded establishment.
