by Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA
The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) and the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region (JTF-NCR) of the Armed of the Philippines (AFP) on Monday signed a memorandum of agreement on the implementation of joint efforts to secure Metro Manila against insurgency.
Under the Implementation Plan or “Implan Kalasag” which will run until 2022, the NCRPO and the JTF-NCR will conduct joint security, peace and order, and development support operations effective March 18, 2019 to December 31, 2022 to develop strategies and plans that can defeat all threat groups and criminal elements.
“Rest assured that team NCRPO will remain steadfast in fulfilling our role in Implan Kalasag. We all want a secure, peaceful and progressive country. Our strong commitment to police service will be our driving force towards achieving success. We shall generate additional strength from our partners in the government. Undoubtedly, our collective efforts will be a stronger force in accomplishing a common goal,” NCRPO head, Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar told reporters in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig.
The Implan Kalasag is a response to President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order 70, mandating the government bureaucracy to take a “whole-of-nation approach” in defeating insurgency through the creation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). The President himself shall be the National Task Force chairman.
Eleazar said the NCRPO has the lead role in law enforcement operations and legal offensives and will lead in the dismantling of criminal gangs, other criminal elements and Private Armed Groups; as well as the arrest and filing of cases against target personalities and organizations.
“As a member of Implan Kalasag, the NCRPO will play the support role in defeating communist terrorist groups in NCR, monitor Peace Inclined Armed Groups and implement a peace agreement. The NCRPO assumes a complimentary role in the fight against local and foreign terrorist groups,” the Metro Manila top cop said.
He said the NCRPO will also provide security of critical and vital infrastructures and it will be responsible for the preservation of evidence during joint operations.
“This is to ensure security and maintain public safety that is fundamental for socio-politico-economic progress in the National Capital Region,” he added.
For his part, Brig. Gen. Cristobal Zaragoza, JTF-NCR commander, said the AFP is committed to secure Metro Manila against insurgency to lead operations aimed at defeating communist terrorist groups and in monitoring peace-inclined armed groups.
Last January 10, PNP chief, Gen. Oscar Albayalde and then AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Carlito Galvez formally signed the AFP-PNP Joint Campaign Plan “Kapanatagan” 2019-2022 that serves as a foundation to harmonize the efforts of two security forces in attaining a peaceful environment wherein all threat groups are defeated, criminalities are suppressed, communities are secured, government institutions are able to function effectively and efficiently in accordance with their mandates.
