Key officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), represented by the Philippine Army, on Tuesday signed a memorandum of agreement on matters involving the security concerns of 47 vital installations in Negros Oriental.
The agreements comes as part of the recent declaration of Negros Oriental as conflict manageable and development ready after both the AFP and the PNP had announced the reduction of the insurgency problem in the province.
Signing the agreement at the PNP headquarters of the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office (NOPPO) late Tuesday were Col. Allan Martin, the recently-installed commander of the 302nd Brigade based in
With this development, some of the vital installations previously under the care of the military are now being handed over to the PNP.
Of the 47 identified vital installations under threat levels “high”, “moderate” and “low”, 45 will now be the responsibility of and under the supervision of the PNP while two will be assigned to the Army.
The two are the geothermal giant Energy Development Corporation’s Southern Negros Geothermal Project and the Green Core Geothermal, Inc. in Valencia, Negros Oriental while the 45 vital installations across the province, include the airport in Dumaguete City, sea ports, wharves, bus terminals, electric cooperatives, telecommunications facilities, and water reservoirs,
Probable course of action by the “enemy” include bombing, sabotage, extortion and arson.
According to both officials, the signing of the agreement was to put things in writing regarding the deployment of security troops as well as other concerns in various public and private vital installations in the province.
Col. Martin said the agreement is to primarily identify who shall be in charge of certain vital installations in Negros Oriental but it does not necessarily mean that the Philippine Army will no longer be actively involved in securing these facilities.
The AFP is still obliged to back up the PNP as necessary, Martin said. He reiterated that the Army will not pull out from Negros Oriental even with the latest development regarding the reduction of the insurgency problem to an insignificant level.
The agreement signing is also in compliance with a directive from higher headquarters for the Negros Oriental Joint Implementing Plan “Seguridad de Instolacion”, which has cited a number of references, such as the AFP-PNP Joint Letter Directive 02-2013 entitled “Guidelines in Providing Security to All Vital Government and Private Projects, Undertakings, Facilities and Equipment within Urban and Rural Areas”, and other similar directives from both agencies.
The Negros Oriental Joint Implementing Plan “prescribes the policies, guidelines and procedures in security vital installations, public and private projects, undertakings, facilities and equipment within Negros Oriental.
While Negros Oriental has already been declared conflict manageable and development ready, it does not mean that it is totally free of the insurgency, said Col. Martin.
“Although the enemy has been relegated to an inconsequential level, they are still capable of conducting terroristic activities such as sabotage of vital installations, bombing of populated areas, harassments of police and military/paramilitary forces and the like”, the Joint Implementing Plan noted.
The memorandum of agreement between the PNP, the AFP and the Joint Task Force-Negros Oriental also stipulates that aside from the parties overseeing the security of vital public and/or private installations, projects and equipment, they must also enhance intelligence capability and sharing to effectively monitor potential threats; and conduct sustained AFP and PNP security patrols and checkpoints; conduct joint trainings and regular security meetings, among others.
Negros Oriental is the only province in
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=654349
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