263 Davao cops complete training to combat insurgency

From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 21, 2020): 263 Davao cops complete training to combat insurgency (By Che Palicte)

ANTI-INSURGENCY TRAINING. A graduate from the six-month training on Basic Internal Security Operation Course receives a certificate of completion from the officials of the Police Regional Office in Davao Region on Wednesday (Oct. 21, 2020). A total of 263 police officers graduated from the capacity-building program to combat insurgency and hone neophyte officers about law enforcement activities. (PNA photo by Prexx Marnie Kate Trozo)

DIGOS CITY--At least 263 police officers graduated from the six-month training on Basic Internal Security Operation Course (BISOC) Wednesday in a ceremony held at the Mindanao Police Training Camp here.

Brig. Gen. Filmore Escobal, Police Regional Office in Davao Region (PRO-11) director, said the training is a capacity-building program to combat insurgency and hone neophyte officers about law enforcement activities.

Before they are assigned to their respective units, Escobal said the graduates will still undergo a two-week training on R-PSB (Revitalized-Pulis Sa Barangay).

The R-PSB Program, according to Escobal, aims to support President Rodrigo Duterte's Executive Order 70, which institutionalizes the "whole of nation" approach to end the insurgency in the countryside.

As a PRO-11 pilot program, R-PSB specifically directs police personnel to engage the people in the barangays, protect them from the recovery efforts of the communist armed group, and ensure that the basic government services will continue to exist in identified barangays that are geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas, Escobal said.

"After the training, they will be assigned to the identified barangays where they will be mandated to maintain peace and order situation and carry out efforts on crime prevention," the police official added.

Out of the 1,106 barangays in the Davao Region, PRO-11 said 212 have been identified as geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas that require police intervention.

"They are expected to maintain the situation in the barangays cleared by the Armed Forces of the Philippines. They will also help and assist the government agencies as they deliver services in these barangays," Escobal said.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1119320