NCRPO chief: Proposed random bag, locker inspections in schools to be done by teachers, not police

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar on Friday clarified that the police would not be involved in his proposed random bag and locker inspections in schools.

The final decision on whether it should be implemented still lies with the Department of Education, Eleazar said, as he underscored that this was just his mere suggestion and not a policy.

"I just want to clarify that even when I was still the district director of QCPD (Quezon City Police District), I have suggested that already to the district supervisors of DepEd in Quezon City but the idea is for them to inspect not the police," Eleazar said in an interview on ANC television.

Eleazar said that he came up with the proposal after there were cases in the past that teachers have reported to them regarding elementary students who were caught with 20 or 30 sachets of marijuana under their possession.

"The background is because there was a case....elementary students that were caught in possession of 20 or 30 sachets of marijuana na binebenta sa school at ginagamit pa nila so well that was the result of the inspection that [was] conducted by the teacher," he said.

"So naisip ko na mas maganda siguro na the teachers have surprise inspection of the bags and lockers," he added.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones earlier expressed concern over Eleazar's proposal, saying that there should be a meeting with the police first to ensure that "coordination and protocols are in place."

"One of the undersecretaries of DepEd visited me and we talked it over, while it was true that we have a common objective but the approaches could be different so well they will talk this over and it's a suggestion that it depends on them whether they will implement this particular suggestion," Eleazar said. — Marlly Rome Bondoc/RSJ, GMA News