by Angeline Valencia
Philippine News Agency
A reinforcement from the national headquarters of the Special Forces of the Philippine Army arrived in Bohol Tuesday morning to brace against the possible recurrence of insurgency following recent reports about the threats of the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front).
Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr., battalion commander of the 2nd Special Forces of the Philippine Army, said the troop will augment the various CAFGU detachments, the Quick Response Teams and the military’s combat reconnaissance teams.
The additional forces comprising 70 soldiers (one company) arrived here Tuesday morning on board a C-130 plane from the national headquarters of the Special Forces based at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.
“We are adding forces here to make sure that insurgents from other provinces will not be able to come back anymore. So we put a premium on our peace and security here in Bohol, especially now that we are achieving a high level, high degree of development, especially on the area of tourism. This is one of the reasons why we are buffing up or augmenting, our forces here in Bohol,†according to Brawner.
This is also in connection to the earlier implementation of the memorandum of agreement on the Provincial Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Center that the armed forces and the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Bohol.
Under the MOA, the military and the police will combine forces in going after criminal elements or lawless elements, especially on the PNP’s campaign against drug abuse and loose firearms.
“We still maintain that Bohol is insurgent-free. The armed group of the communists already fled the province. What we are now saying is that there are threats of the armed group coming back. We want to prevent the recurrence of insurgence or the coming back of the armed groups,†Brawner said.
There are reports that these communist armed groups are from Negros Oriental and the military in Bohol want to prevent them from entering Bohol again, Brawner added.
To maintain the status of Bohol as an insurgent-free province, “the AFP and PNP are working closely together with the Local government executives and the provincial government of Bohol to make sure that the province remains peaceful and developingâ€, he added.
The military and the PNP also plan to conduct another joint anti-terrorism exercise, this time, the scenario would be a sea battle with terrorists who kidnap tourists.
“Our next scenario would involve a tourist attraction, probably Panglao wherein the abductors would escape to the sea. It will test how the PNP and the military efficiently handle the situation to eradicate this, including the LGU, and the quick response team of the province called Tarsier 117,†according to Brawner.
Brawner confirmed that they received several reports from the hinterlands about armed men which they immediately verify, with the support of the PNP.
“We found out that some of these reports are about common criminals—robbers or mga akyat bahay. We are happy that we receive reports, constantly. It only means to say that Boholanos are really vigilant and that they do not want to accept anymore these NPA. Based on the statistics of PNP, they have already recovered a lot of unlicensed firearms.
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Topic: More Army Forces Arrive in Bohol (Read 3274 times)