September 23, 2005
Inquirer News Service - By Marlon Ramos

Truck firms urged to use GPS

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna—The Calabarzon police office has asked the association of trucking companies in the region to immediately install global positioning system (GPS) gadgets in their trucks to thwart hijacking and highway robberies, a police official said yesterday.

Senior Supt. Rodolfo Magtibay, operations chief of the Calabarzon police, said that although the number of reported hijackings had declined in the past months, the threat was still high.

He said this during a meeting with the truckers’ group based in Calabarzon on Tuesday, during which the advantages of putting up GPS units in delivery trucks were discussed lengthily.

Once installed, he said, the GPS could show the exact location of the trucks at any given time.

Some systems, he added, could even tell “if the driver is sleeping with the aircon of his truck on.”

“In case a truck is taken by criminal elements or during (an) emergency, the police and its owner can easily detect where the truck is headed. That way, we can dispatch our police units to go after the truck at once,” Magtibay told the Inquirer.

He said despite the availability of such technology in the country, the number of trucking companies using GPS in their units is still negligible.

The most common reason cited by companies, he said, was that GPS units are expensive. “But acquiring GPS is obviously much cheaper than losing your truck and its cargo. That would cost millions for businessmen,” he said.