Governor commends police snack bar, says Capitol will pay for repair of defective PNP firearms
PRO 7 Chief Supt Prudencio Bañas and the governor listen to Senior Supt. Noel Gillamac explain how he started the self-service cafe. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
Noy Honesto, the self-service cafe at the headquarters of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) has expanded its wares to include Cebu delicacies.
The simple display of snacks includes Argao town’s famous torta, Carcar City’s chicharon (pork crackling), bukarilyo (sweetened dried coconut), ampao and masi (sweet dumplings) from Liloan.
Gov. Hilario Davide II commended the project, which relies on customers to leave their payment and collect the exact change even if no one is around to serve them, a first of its kind for a police office in the region.
“This promotes honesty and transparency and should also be reflected in every government organization,” Davide said.
The cafe was inaugurated yesterday with Davide, Police Regional Director Prudencio Bañas and Cebu City Police Office chief Senior Supt. Conrado Capa as guests of honor.
The snack shop also offers bread baked by inmates of the Cebu provincial jail.
“So far, with our operation, there is no discrepancy yet. Usahay naa pa gani sobra nga P5, basin ang uban i-keep the change na lang (Sometimes, we even have an excess of P5, maybe the buyer just left the change),” said CPPO director Senior Supt. Noel Gillamac.
Police personnel wore shirts printed with “Noy Honesto”, the name of an honest boy in a TV series.
Formal launching. Gov. Hilario Davide III and Police Regional Office-7 director Chief Supt Prudencio Bañas lead the formal opening of ‘Noy Honesto cafe’ in the headquarters of the Cebu Provincial Police Office. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
Firearm repairs
Governor Davide also announced that the Capitol would shoulder the cost of repairing defective firearms of the provincial police.
Davide said the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) will be signed this month with the PRO-7.
Gillamac said they have identified 60 firearms in need of repair.
“We have about 120 well-trained SWAT police deployed in the whole province of Cebu. Maybe half of them will be equipped with these firearms,” said Gillamac.
It costs P16,800 to repair one firearm, he said.
Gillamac said the refurbished firearms will be high performance guns suited for the tasks of the Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) units.
He said he was confident the guns would be ready in the next few months.
“Confidence is very important for Swat units. If they have sophisticated firearms I don’t think criminals would fight it out with them,” the provincial police chief added.