Wanted: Tall, athletic tourist cops

MANILA, Philippines - Wanted: applicants who are at least 1.7 meters (5’8”) tall, with an athletic build, between 25 and 45 years old, and proficient in English or other foreign languages.

The want ad is for a special police unit whose main task is to keep the country’s foreign visitors safe.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Department of Tourism (DOT) signed a memorandum of agreement yesterday to create TOPCOP, or Tourist-Oriented Police for Community Order and Protection.

The agreement was signed yesterday morning by Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim and PNP chief Director General Raul Bacalzo.

The TOPCOP, which is national in scope, is envisioned to enhance the security of tourists and tourist areas as well as to ensure the special and proper training and handling of tourist-related security and safety issues.

The agreement also pointed out that a good image of the country would enhance the country’s attraction as a tourism destination and contribute to the increase of socio-economic benefits which can be derived from tourism.

Special units within the PNP shall be created to ensure the safety and security of tourists in various travel destinations throughout the country.

Bacalzo earlier ordered field units to intensify security operations in major tourist destinations in the country to provide protection and police assistance to tourists and foreign guests.

The PNP chief instructed the Directorate for Operations to beef up the operational capability of Special Tourist Protection Units deployed in major tourist destinations such as Baguio City, Boracay Island, Cebu, Bohol, Palawan, Tagaytay City and Davao.

“In coordination with Tourism authorities, the PNP is fielding more police personnel to man these Special Tourist Protection Units as preemptive measure against crime syndicates that prey on foreign and local tourists,” Bacalzo said.

The PNP Highway Patrol Group also created a Special Task Force to prevent robberies against motorists and bus passengers, including foreign tourists, who visit attractions outside of Manila.

A well-equipped operations center has also been set up to better coordinate actions during crises at the highest level.

The TOPCOP program will also provide continuing training and education for PNP personnel such as tourism awareness seminar, Mabuhay host seminar, cultural sensitivity seminar, emergency response & life saving, crisis management, community-based guiding, foreign language and familiarization tours.

Republic Act 9593 or the Tourism Act of 2009 provides for the establishment of a Tourism Security Force within the PNP to assist in maintaining peace and order in areas with high tourism traffic. The same law abolished DOT’s Tourist Security Unit and in its place established the Tourism Security Force within the PNP.

The Department of Foreign Affairs welcomed the implementation of various measures aimed at safeguarding local and foreign tourists.

“It is important that our country has a conducive environment for our visitors,” the DFA said in a statement.

Lim said the collaboration was meant to create a favorable image that the Philippines is a safe destination within the international community.

The safety of tourists became a vital issue after the Luneta taking incident last Aug. 23 when a dismissed policeman took 22 Hong Kong tourists hostage at the Luneta Park.

Bureau of Immigration (BI) data showed that as of Nov. 8, tourist arrivals in the Philippines rose year-on-year by 17 percent to 2,562,505, from 2,190,114 in the same period last year.

BI records showed that Americans were the top foreign nationals coming to the country, with 679,406 arrivals recorded in the first 10 months of the year. South Koreans were second at 525,564, followed by Japanese at 331,156 and Chinese at 229,989.

Stakeholders see better opportunity

Meanwhile, tourism stakeholders from the private sector see a significant increase in the number of tourist arrivals next year with the opening of new hotels in the country’s major destinations and additional air seats.

Alejandra Clemente, president of the Federation of Tourism Industries of the Philippines Inc. (FTIP), said Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) would be adding flights to the Philippines starting February next year.

“ANA would have flights to Manila five times a week. It would likely bring 100 to 150 additional tourists each flight,” Clemente said, adding that Delta Air Lines, the third-largest airline in the United States, would have additional flights to Manila starting April next year.

Clemente said the governments of India and the Philippines recently signed a bilateral air services agreement where a big number of air seats would be generated.

New hotels such as the SM-owned Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu, the Four Seasons and Raffles in Makati City were also recently inaugurated.

Clemente said air seat capacity should be addressed by the government to increase the number of tourists in the country.

“2011 will be a good year for Philippine tourism,” she said, while expressing support for a proposed executive order that provides for pocket open skies.

She said a pocket open skies policy increased the number of tourists in Bali, Indonesia from 30,000 to 600,000 in just two years.

About 2.8 million tourists have visited the country as of September this year.

“More airlines will come in if the government implements the pocket open skies,” Clemente said.

President Aquino earlier said he intends to initially adopt a “pocket open skies” policy to strengthen and liberalize the aviation industry and his administration is preparing for its full implementation to help boost the tourism sector. – Rainier Allan Ronda, Helen Flores