(Eagle News) — Philippine National Police Chief Guillermo Eleazar maintained there was no corruption in the procurement of body cameras for police personnel.
Eleazar made the statement following reports Senator Manny Pacquiao named the PNP as among corrupt agencies in the Philippines.
In a press conference on Saturday, July 3, Pacquiao, however, only named the Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Department of Energy on his list.
Pacquiao made the claims after President Rodrigo Duterte challenged him to prove corruption was worse in the government.
In a statement, Eleazar said the funds allotted by Congress for the cameras were all accounted for.
In fact, he said the PNP managed to save P45 million in the transaction and that saved money was allocated for the purchase of high-definition closed-circuit television cameras.
He said the P45,111,006.28 in savings were particularly combined with the P19,429,717.08 savings from the recent improvement of the PNP Command Center for the procurement of the CCTV Rapid Deployment System which costs around P60 million.
He said the system–composed of 10 deployable CCTVs with Artificial Intelligence, video management system, 10 CCTV mobile trailers and 10 generators— will be used to help in counter-terrorism operations.
Each camera, he said, can be loaded with 200 pictures of wanted criminals and terrorists.
The delivery of the items is expected this month.
Nonetheless, he said that “If indeed Sen. Pacquiao said that there was corruption in the procurement of bodycams, we would appreciate if he could provide us the details and I assure him that we would look into it.”