CRIMINALITY, ILLEGAL DRUGS, TERRORISM
AFP Centcom Commander Lt. Gen. Oscar Lactao (center), Police Regional Office (PRO-7) director Chief Supt. Jose Mario Espino and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA-7) head Yogi Filemon Ruiz lead the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) creating an Interagency Task Force to combat illegal drugs, criminality and terrorism in the region.
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA
As the war on illegal drugs and all forms of criminality escalates, law enforcers in the region turned to other government agencies and local government units for help.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines Central Command (AFP Centcom), Police Regional Office 7, and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA-7), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with 24 other government agencies on Friday, which aimed to formalize coordination in their fight against illegal drugs, criminality and terrorism.
The MOU will allow all law enforcement agencies to share information, manpower, intelligence gathering and logistics.
“This is very timely and important karon (now) considering ang mga sindikato nagkalig-on (the drug syndicates are getting stronger),” said PDEA-7 director Yogi Filemon Ruiz.
He said that the MOU has many functions which support their anti-illegal drugs campaign.
Ruiz added that the police and military can assist PDEA by providing personnel during big time operations against drug syndicates and drug personalities.
Centcom commander Lt. Gen. Oscar Lactao also underscored the need to unify efforts in addressing the illegal drug problem, criminality and terrorism.
“We need to start our inter-agency task force so that we will be able to make great strides in these three challenges,” Lactao said referring to three committees of the task force created under the MOU.
As head of the counter terrorism committee, Centcom will tighten security in coordination with local chief executives and police to ensure that no terrorists will ever slip into the region again especially Cebu, said Lactao.
“Hindi kami pwedeng pumasok na wala kaming working relationship. Magkakaroon ng delay,” Lactao explained.
(We cannot just enter an area without a working relationship with the officials. Otherwise, the operation will suffer delays.)
For his part, the head of the newly-created inter-agency anti-criminality committee PRO-7 director Chief Supt. Jose Mario Espino vowed that PNP will follow protocols in conducting police operations.
“PRO-7 will stick to our mandate and guidelines to follow our standard police operational procedures. We are still in the process of our internal cleansing,” Espino said.
Aside from Centcom, PRO-7, PDEA-7 and NBI-7, the other agencies which signed the MOU were: the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Bureau of Customs (BOC), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), Cebu Port Authority (CPA), Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA), Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT), Department of Tourism (DOT), PNP Maritime, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Department of Education (DepEd), Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), Department of Energy (DOE), and representatives from the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Talisay.