Newly-installed Region 6 police director Isagani Cuevas yesterday said the 500 6 th Regional Mobile Group members will play a support role in the conduct of an anti-insurgency campaign in Negros , with Army soldiers spearheading it.

While Executive Order 546 stipulates that the PNP will play an active role in internal security operations, Cuevas said it does not mean that they will be actively involved in counter-insurgency operations.

Cuevas said the 6 th RMG and other police units will support the Philippine Army in their intelligence work, community relations, investigations, and in legal offensives.

The 6 th RMG, a rapid deployment force of the Western Visayas police, has four companies of troopers stationed in Negros, and another company-sized unit in Panay island.

Two Army battalions will compliment the 303 rd Infantry Brigade forces in the dismantling of four New People's Army guerilla fronts in Negros island, which is being targeted by Maj. Gen. Jovenal Narcise, 3 rd Infantry Division commander, to be completed by the middle of 2009.

In 2006, the 6 th RMG and police provincial mobile groups in Western Visayas were re-armed and re-equipped as they had been prepared for combat with insurgents.

However, the plans were not implemented after then Region 6 police director Geary Barias was transferred to Camp Crame , and promoted.

Yesterday, Cuevas visited the 6 th RMG headquarters stationed at Camp Aniceto Lacson in Victorias City , after a meeting with Acting Governor Isidro Zayco.

EO 546 also allows the PNP to recruit “police auxiliaries” from barangay officials and tanods for mobilization in the counter-insurgency campaign, with the concurrence of the local chief executives and the Peace and Order Councils.

TEST MISSIONS REPORTED

Meanwhile, Cuevas said the police and the military are taking precautions against possible attacks by rebels when asked about reports of alleged test missions being conducted by the sparrow units.

He asked the public for their cooperation by reporting to them any suspicious-looking persons in their areas.

Cuevas called on Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday who welcomed him at City Hall.

He said that because police stations lack personnel to conduct visibility in crime-prone areas, the PNP has implemented a daily accounting of its personnel. They are also organizing an Integrity Task Force to monitor and even arrest personnel violating the provisions of the Revised Penal Code, he said.

He said they want to serve and protect better the people of Western Visayas , especially in Negros and Bacolod . He said this cannot be accomplished without the support of the Mayor, plus the vigilance of the media. “We hope we could have a working relationship that would be for the betterment of the police in Bacolod City and its environs,” he said.

CALL CENTER SUSPECTS

Meanwhile, Bacolod City Police Office chief of operations Supt. Antonieto Cañete said they have arrested one of the two suspects in robbery cases involving call center employees in the city.

As a preventive measure, he said he has assigned 50 men at the pick-up and drop-off points of the shuttle buses provided by call center companies to their employees from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily, he said.

Cañete said they have also arrested several suspects involved in “Akyat-Bahay” operations and they have been turned over to the Social Development Center since they are minors.*GPB/CGS

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