In Photo: President Duterte (fourth from left) poses with a fist bump with Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana (third from right) and Armed Forces chief Gen. Ricardo R. Visaya (third from left) at his “Talk with the Airmen” on the anniversary of the 250th Presidential Airlift Wing on September 13 at the Philippine Air Force headquarters in Pasay City. President Duterte, in his first public statement opposing the presence of American troops, said he wants United States forces out of his country’s south and blamed the US for inflaming Muslim insurgencies in the region.
With similar or even interrelated missions, cooperation and partnership between the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are a must.
The developments over the past months in the areas of law and order and security, notable of which are the campaigns against terrorism and illegal drugs, as well as the need to place the country under a state of emergency on account of lawless violence highlighted—if not strengthened—the level of partnership and cooperation between the policemen and soldiers.
PNP chief Director General Ronald M. de la Rosa said that, given the huge tasks and enormous challenges that the country currently faces, the PNP needs the support and full backing of the military, citing the Davao City bombing, which killed at least 14 people and wounded more than 70 others, and police operations in areas where threat groups with sizable number of members exist, as examples.
The Davao blast, characterized as plain terrorism or even narcoterrorism, created a ripple in police and military operations, with policemen and soldiers responding by working in tandem to put and man security checkpoints across the country, secure vital installations and guard areas of public convergence.
“We have a good relationship with the PNP, we support them in the anti-criminality operations, anti-illegal drugs campaign and anticorruption efforts,” said AFP Public Affairs Office chief Col. Edgard Arevalo, as he put into context the relationship between the two organizations under the existing state of emergency.
“Within the Armed Forces, we actively support the PNP by conducting our own internal cleansing against members who use illegal drugs by initiating random testing and dismissing those who are found using it,” Arevalo added.
Whenever there is a need, the soldiers also support the policemen even in plain anticriminality operations, with one of these necessities exemplified in Northern Mindanao, where various threat groups exist and offer stiff resistance to operating troops of the PNP.
In Sulu and Basilan, where there is currently a government campaign to end the reign of notoriety and terrorism by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and other local terrorist groups, and even in other parts of Mindanao, where lawless groups also exist, the PNP and the military work in tandem to confront them.
In Sulu and Basilan, where the police need mobility and other logistical support, the AFP even backs the PNP in carrying out raids and in serving warrants of arrest against notorious criminals, members of criminal syndicates and even ASG members.
“We back and jointly work and operate with them against kidnapping and other criminal activities there,” Arevalo said.
Even before he placed the country under a state of emergency, Duterte already defined the priority mission of the AFP under his administration, and this is peace and security, necessitating the need to work in partnership with the PNP.
The President ordered the military to focus on the anticriminality campaign in support of the PNP, with emphasis on his government’s anti-illegal drugs drive and an end to the terrorism that confronts Mindanao.
The mission was made a necessity by Duterte’s goal of exterminating the illegal-drugs problem and its sponsors, peddlers and users.
Arevalo said the state of emergency further cemented the relationship between the police and the military, and has given the AFP a more active role in the areas of peace and security in coordination with the PNP.
“In the case of the Davao City bombing, we worked with the PNP to suppress lawless violence and prevented its spread in urban centers by putting up checkpoints in Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and other parts of the country,” Arevalo said.
“It strengthened our partnership, as it defined our partnership,” he added, referring to the roles of the PNP and the AFP in supporting each other under the prevailing law and order and security condition.
It also applied to the conduct of mobile patrols, curfew, law-enforcement checkpoints and foot patrols.
“We have a very strong partnership with the police, and we can say we help in suppressing lawlessness and its spread,” Arevalo said, noting there has been no “untoward” incident after the Davao City bombing, which maximized the coordination and cooperation between the policemen and soldiers.
The existing level of joint operations by the PNP and the Armed Forces also lessened the existence of criminal syndicates and other crime groups, and negated their activities.
Still, Arevalo described the level of partnership between the policemen and soldiers as “basically doing each other’s job.” “And we hope to keep it intact. It is within the partnership that will spell peace and security for the country,” Arevalo said. “We are hopeful it will continue.”
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/afp-and-pnp-partners-for-peace-and-security/
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