MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police will soon hire security guards to secure the three main gates of Camp Crame, the PNPâ€™s national headquarters, PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima said yesterday.

â€œThe plan to have security guards detailed at Camp Crame gates will be implemented soon. They will replace the policemen. The funds for that is included in this yearâ€™s approved budget,â€ Purisima said.

At present, there are about 100 uniformed policemen assigned to secure Camp Crameâ€™s gates.

Purisima said the hiring of security guards is still part of the effort to remove police officers from desk jobs and deploy them to the streets to boost the PNPâ€™s anti-crime drive.

Last year, the PNP had a dry run of having security guards at Camp Crame gates for three days â€“ Saturday, Sunday and Monday â€“ and the program generated mixed reactions. A total of 21 guards, who went on duty during the weekend, rendered services for free.

In March 2008, then PNP chief Avelino Razon Jr. announced a similar plan, saying private security guards may soon secure the national and regional headquarters of the PNP as part of the program to put more police officers on the streets.

The PNP said it will hire only skilled and properly trained security guards from the best and most competent security agency. Officials said the guards will still be supervised by police officers.

A lawman with the rank of Police Officer 1 receives P18,000 as the basic monthly salary while security guards will be paid much less.

The PNP also plans to hire civilian employees to replace police officers as band members, drivers of trucks and buses, mechanics and technical personnel.