BORACAY ISLAND, Aklan — The Metro Boracay Task Force (MBTF) and other law enforcement agencies are eyeing zero major incident during the entire six months of rehabilitating Boracay Island.
Chief Supt. Cesar Hawthorne Binag, Director of Police Regional Office 6 (Western Visayas), said this was the aim of the security simulation exercises, the final activity held here Wednesday.
About 200 members of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Navy and Army joined the two-hour activity from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the beach of the island resort.
The simulation exercise demonstrated the capability of the forces to respond to various threats, such as protest rally, bombing, and kidnapping, which may happen within the six-month rehabilitation phase of Boracay.
PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde, in a message read by Deputy Director General Fernando Mendez, PNP Deputy Chief for Operations, said the series of demonstration exercises is their way of sending a clear message to the public that “safety, security, order, and the rule of law will be protected and upheld and that we are ready to respond to any kind of contingencies.”
“May this capability demonstration exercise bolster our synergy and bring about significant results aligned with the direction of our President and the future of Boracay Island,” Albayalde added.
“Even without the directive of the President (Rodrigo R. Duterte), it is our mandate to secure the island,” Mendez said during a press conference after the final simulation security activity.
“The reason we are deploying additional forces is to make sure that the closure will be peaceful and we can provide an environment that will ensure the unhampered rehabilitation so that we could meet the deadline,” he added.
PRO-6 created the interim force MBTF last February to boost security in the island against all forms of criminality, particularly terrorism.
More or less 610 police personnel were deployed to the island resort composed of 126 personnel of the Aklan Police, 300 from Boracay Sub-Station, four from the Regional Civil Security Unit 6, 13 from the Aklan Provincial Highway Patrol Unit, one from Aklan Provincial Criminal Investigation and Detective Team, and 166 augmentation personnel from PRO-6, part of which were139 policemen who underwent training on Civil Disturbance Management.
Some 200 forces of the Philippine Army and the Philippine Navy were also deployed. (PNA)
