MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine National Police (PNP) has opened the acquisition for their body cameras for bidding, police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa announced.

“I am announcing to all suppliers out there, you can supply the best body-worn camera, you come to Camp Crame, get accredited, and supply our body cameras. Because we want the best for our PNP,” Dela Rosa said in a mix of English and Filipino in a press conference Thursday, February 1.

Their allotment for body cameras cannot be understated as the national police have set aside P334 million for the small gadgets. (READ: Will body cameras solve alleged police abuse in the drug war?)

According to the PNP Director for Logistics Jovic Ramos, who’s in charge of their procurement plan, they have assigned the great amount to show that they are prioritizing the end to police abuse during operations.

“Tapos na ‘yung dogs, ang program ngayon is ‘yung body cameras. Wala kaming procurement ng dogs [for this year] (The dogs are done. The program for this year are body cameras. We do not have procurement for dogs for this year),” Ramos told reporters during the same Thursday briefing.

Ramos could not give how many cameras they plan on purchasing. He said they have yet to coordinate with the PNP’s Directorate for Operations on how many the 190,000-strong police force needs, and how the cameras should be distributed.

With regard to bidders, Ramos forewent describing who to prioritize as he has also yet to meet with the PNP’s bids and awards committee (BAC) on whether they would prefer the lowest bidders.

Police are gunning to have them rolled out by June 2018, the top cop said. (READ: Dela Rosa looking for donors to fund PNP body cameras)

“June, meron na tayong body camera sa lahat ng mga drug enforcement units. Sa buong PNP, ‘yun ang pinaka-conservative estimate of the procurement process. Pero kami talaga bibilisan namin ‘yan. The more na wala ‘yan, the more na uneasy ‘yung mga kritiko natin,” Dela Rosa said.

(By June, we will have body cameras for all our drug enforcement units. For the PNP, that’s the most conservative estimate of the procurement process. But we are fast-tracking it. The more that it’s not there, the more uneasy critics become.) – Rappler.com