Camp Crame

The Main Office of Philippine National Police

Camp Crame is the national headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and is located in along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, Quezon City. Formerly the national headquarters of the Philippine Constabulary, Camp Crame is located across the street from Camp Aguinaldo, the national headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It was named after the first Filipino Chief of the Philippine Constabulary, Brigadier General Rafael Cramé.

History

Philippine National Police, Camp Crame buildings (view from Santolan MRT).

The Offices

As early as the 1930s, military facilities were set up in Quezon City, among them Camp Murphy (now Camp Aguinaldo) and Camp Crame. Named after the first Filipino brigadier general of the Philippine Constabulary (PC), Rafael Crame, the camp was where the General Strike Force of the PC was organized under Brig. Gen. Guillermo Francisco in 1939. Camp Crame had been used as the headquarters of the Philippine Constabulary, which was then considered part of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

A major detention area during the Marcos dictatorship, it became one of the rallying points of people during the EDSA Revolution of 1986. Today, the camp is now the headquarters of the Philippine National Police, established in 1991 as an entity separate from the AFP. However, despite this separation, the titles to the land which Camp Crame stands were only turned over to the PNP by the AFP in July 2008.

The camp is currently undergoing renovation, starting with the renovation of the PNP Multipurpose Hall and the camp's swimming pool. There are also plans for the construction of a multi-storey building along the EDSA side of the camp to house the administrative offices of the PNP, as well as commercial establishments for the general public.

Several high-profile personalities have been detained at Camp Crame in recent years, among them deposed President Joseph Ejercito Estrada. The ongoing trial for the Maguindanao Massacre is also held in a courtroom inside the camp, where primary suspect Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. is being detained.

Current operations

In April 2011, the post was recognized by the National Historical Commission, when a marker was placed on the facility with the presence of former President Fidel Ramos.^[1]

References