By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippine government must strengthen its ties with neighboring countries, particularly in the area of police cooperation and law enforcement, in order to counter communist terrorist groups (CTG), the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Tuesday.
In a letter addressed to Undersecretary Allen Capuyan, Executive Director of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC), Directorate For Operations (DO) officer-in-charge, Brig. Gen. Rey Lyndon Lawas, said the PNP recommended the conduct of efforts aimed at solving crimes and fostering enhanced coordination and cooperation with Philippine government officials deployed in other countries, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), and communities.
He added that creative law enforcement must be implemented to combat the mobilization of CTGs, adding that “radicalization must be countered with strategic communications efforts”.
“Since the CTGs paradigm has shifted to tapping greatly into the workforce, business owners together with their decision makers have to carry out preventive actions to make their workers rally for and not against them on labor infiltration,” Lawas said.
The police force, he said, will fully support the creation of counter-insurgency groups composed of experts on various subjects that will serve as counterparts of CTGs’ cadres.
“The lack of information campaign by the government has eroded the faith and trust of the masses in the government and redressing this gap should come from the people in the government wherein addressing apathy has to be dealt with and patriotism must be reawakened,” he added.
Lawas also vowed to uphold gender equality in all fields of social activity and combat gender/sexual discrimination.
This is through the conduct of Gender Sensitivity Training (GST) regularly to PNP personnel to address the issues and concerns on women and children to achieve gender equality and women empowerment.
He added the Community Support Programs of both the AFP and PNP, under the supervision of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), which are the agents of Peace and Development should know how to arouse, organize, and mobilize the community against the CTGs.
The PNP’s Kabataan Kontra Droga at Terorismo has been effective in responding to the adverse effects by these two major issues being addressed by the Duterte administration, he added.
The NTF ELCAC was created by virtue of Executive Order 70 issued on Dec. 4, 2018 “to provide an efficient mechanism and structure for the implementation of the Whole-of-Nation Approach to aid in the realization of the collective aspirations for inclusive and sustainable peace.”
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