PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — A maritime law enforcement exercise (MARLEX) between two police groups was conducted here Friday afternoon in Honda Bay, Barangay Sta. Lourdes.
The MARLEX was between policemen of the Special Operations Unit-Maritime Group (SOU-MG) headed by Senior Superintendent Gregorio Togonon and the City Police Office (CPO) led by Senior Superintendent Ronnie Francis Cariaga and meant to enhance law enforcement and security operations at sea and in coastal areas.
In a simulation exercise (SIMEX) during the MARLEX, two teams composed of 12 Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) assault forces personnel each from the maritime and CPO police forces were dispatched to rescue a “33-year old Malaysian tourist” kidnapped from a resort nearby Honda Bay.
They had to rescue the “Malaysian” after he was forced by three supposed kidnappers to board a motorized boat.
Togonon said the MARLEX and the simulated exercise would prepare them to confront an incident at sea or in coastal areas that would threaten the safety and security of the city.
“What we want to do in this activity is to check our interoperability capabilities and capacities. We will continue to have MARLEX to level them up when the responsibility calls for them to work together,” he said.
Cariaga said in the coming months, more maritime law enforcement exercises would be conducted to see how their personnel would work with each other as a group.
“If we have enough resources, we will do this to expand their knowledge in responding to similar situations as the SIMEX. Hopefully, we will do this too, with other law enforcement agencies,” he said.
He said among those he observed during the SIMEX was the need to have a dedicated communication line only for the team to use in case such an operation is warranted.
This way, the teams would not be interrupted by other concerns that need to be communicated using the same communication frequency.
“There should be no interventions so that the operating units can carry out their tasks effectively. It is important to look for a frequency were communication traffic will not hinder the operation,” he added.
“The SIMEX scenario was kidnapping because there’s a history here that happened in 2001, which we want to prevent from happening again,” Cariaga said. (Gerardo Reyes, Jr./PNA)
