The Philippine National Police taps anew its uniformed men to guard their headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
The cops will replace civilian security guards who were deployed in November last year to man the gates and offices of the national police headquarters.
Last Dec. 1, PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Wilben Mayor disclosed that the P21-million contract of Right Eight Security Agency Inc. (Right8), the security agency the PNP has commissioned to provide guard force services at the camp, has expired.
“The PNP, through the Legal Service, is evaluating further the advantages and disadvantages of having private security guards at strategic areas in Camp Crame,” Mayor said.
According to reports, the security agency has received P1.7 million per month for assigning 80 to 100 guards on three eight-hour shifts per day.
In August this year, PNP chief Ricardo Marquez announced that the PNP is conducting performance evaluation of all the security guards deployed in Camp Crame to determine if they will renew the agency’s contract.
Recall that the shift from cops to security guards was initiated by then PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima last year, in an aim to increase police visibility on the streets by assigning more police officers in actual police duty.
The PNP also justified the move by saying the police force has saved money by employing security guards.
In comparison, an ordinary Police Officer 1 has an entry base pay of P14,834 and a gross pay of P22,204 while an ordinary security guard is paid a monthly salary of P10,000 to P15,000.
However, Crame insiders said that based on the contract, security guards deployed by Right8 were supposed to get salaries equal to that received by a Police Officer 2, which is about P16,934 (base pay) or P25,997.60 (gross pay) monthly.
