Peace, security council activated anew in Abra

BANGUED, Abra -- The Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Council (JPSCC), first piloted in the 2010 polls, has been activated anew in this province.

The JPSCC was resurrected to map out plans for the Abra Week for Peace 2012 next month and the May 2013 elections.

Presided by Abra police director Senior Supt. Alexander Rafael,  the council will draw up a plan of action to be implemented immediately to establish two more Police Assistance Centers (Compacts), the deployment of their officers and men to provide security in the conduct of the Abra Week for Peace on December 3 – 7, and to improve the conduct of mobile checkpoints and police visibility in the province.

The plan is intended to mitigate situations that may arise in the perennially violence-troubled province.

The JPSCC will be establishing a Compact in Aguibo, Malibcong purportedly to secure the provincial road to remote Malibcong and the Abra-Kalinga Road and help the commuters in the area and those going to Kalinga, and another in the area of Danglas and La Paz to secure the Abra-Ilocos Norte Road.

The JPSCC formed during the 2010 elections, said Army Col. Eliseo Posadas, commanding officer of the 503rd Infantry Brigade,  showed the effectiveness of the partnership of the PNP and the AFP  in addressing the complex problems in Abra --- insurgency, the private armed-groups (PAGs), criminality particularly murder cases, and violations of the Presidential Decree 705 or Forestry Law.

In 2010, the province saw a diminished number of election-related violence.