The newly installed Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) director has ordered the 43 municipal police stations to capture two wanted persons each in 24 hours.
Roland Vilela, IPPO director, said the chiefs of police must comply first with the task before they can talk to him as the new director.
“I told them to work first before they talk to me. Today, I said, you have to arrest two wanted persons,” he said in an interview on Thursday, Sept. 5.
“I just set a high bar for myself since I am new to the place (Iloilo),” he added.
Vilela bared the 80 wanted persons target to municipal mayors during the League of Municipalities of the Philippines-Iloilo Chapter oath-taking ceremony of the newly-elected officers in a hotel in this city’s Molo district.
He told municipal mayors that he is yet to assess the performances of the province’s chiefs of police.
The target was limited only to 80 as other municipal police stations do not have “wanted persons” on their list.
The challenge of the new director started at 6 a.m. Thursday and will end at 6 a.m. Friday.
As of 2 p.m., Vilela said the province had already captured around 20 wanted persons.
Some of the municipalities which already heeded the order were Bingawan, San Dionisio, San Enrique, Oton, Barotac Viejo, Lambunao, Sara, Estancia, and Anilao. “And I am monitoring them,” Vilela said.
As some of the police stations in the province had zero wanted person, Vilela ordered their chiefs of police to at least visit the victims of domestic violence and drug surrenderers.
Policemen are not only tasked to catch criminals, but part of their responsibility is also to ensure that law violators do not backslide to their wrongdoings, he said. “I told them to also visit the victims of domestic violence, and also the drug surrenderers, to prevent them to become repeat offenders,” he said.
Iloilo Province is composed of 42 towns and one component city.PNA
