PNP-HPG, Grab sign agreement on road safety and security

The Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) and Grab Philippines on Wednesday signed a memorandum of agreement on road safety and security.

PNP-HPG Director Police Chief Superintendent Antonio Gardiola Jr. said the collaboration would contribute to the government's anti-criminality drive.

"We discussed about the operation nila. Likewise 'yung sa trabaho namin. Nag-pop-up 'yung idea na 'yung cooperation on anti-criminality that would start from intelligence gathering, info gathering. Kasi 'yung mga tao nila, they're on the ground," Gardiola told reporters after the signing ceremony held at HPG Headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

"There are about 10,000 grab operators by now. These are very useful for our intelligence and info gathering. Likewise, not only on intelligence, pati doon sa mga relief and rescue operations which I think can be further expound," he added.
 

PNP-HPG, Grab Philippines sign MOA on road safety and security pic.twitter.com/pp6rkA6I07

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Grab drivers will undergo basic training on information and intelligence gathering before they can be utilized "on the ground," according to the PNP-HPG chief.

"First of course ite-train din namin sila. Hindi lang 'yung basta-bastang pag-ga-gather, pag-co-collect. We will teach them how to be observant, suspicious and how to determine ano ang mga suspicious characters," Gardiola noted.

Grab Philippines country head Brian Cu said that about 100 to 200 drivers will be included in the pilot test.

"Ang gagawin po natin mag-pa-pilot tayo. Maybe 100 to 200 drivers gagawin namin. As Grab, we will allocate a certain budget. We will equip the drivers with dashcams, for example, and we will also sponsor the training of HPG that will be given our drivers," Cu said.

"Kami po sasagot sa training mg na 'yun para ma-equip ang ating ka-Grab members on the skills needed for a type of work that we'll be doing with the HPG," Cu added.

"The good thing about our drivers, a lot of them has a very strong sense of civic responsibility, na kusa sila mismo ang gumagawa ng emergency response activities without us prompting them," Cu said. 

Under the terms of the agreement, the PNP-HPG will provide Grab drivers with trainings on Safety and Courtesy, Anti-Carnapping and Anti-Highway Robbery, and other relevant Anti-Criminality orientation seminars.

On the other hand, Grab will provide the PNP-HPG with real-time information on all forms of criminal acts committed on major thoroughfares, or were observed by the drivers, particularly carnapping and highway robbery, by using the HPG text reporting system.

The pilot collaboration will be in place for 12 months.

The MOA was signed by Gardiola, Deputy Director for Operations PSSupt. Marlon Madrid, Deputy Chief for Operation Police Director General Fernando Mendez, and Deputy Director for Administration PSSupt. Ulysses Caton.

They were joined by Cu, Grab Public Affairs Head Leo Emmanuel Gonzales, and the Driver Services and Communities leaders Fausti Carias, Christian Villaruz, Sonny Villar, Marlo Relox and Johnson Tan. — VDS, GMA News