No private armies in Abra, says PNP

By Dexter A. See

CAMP DANGWA, La Trinidad, Benguet – Police operations in Abra has thwarted attempts by unscrupulous individuals and groups to re-organize the dreaded private armed groups in that province.

This was reported by Chief Supt. Orlando L. Pestano, director of the Police Regional Office in the Cordillera.

With dismantling of the private armies, the Philippine National Police (PNP) is hopeful that the elections in Abra next year would be peaceful.

He said the spate of killings in that province in the past several weeks was traced to personal vendetta or old grudges, noting that the number of politically motivated crimes has been significantly reduced in the past two years.

Pestano said he wants the people of Abra to forget the culture of violence that prevailed in their province in the past several decades as the PNP is determined to restore peace and order.

The top regional police official has ordered PNP units in Abra to intensify their mobile and foot patrol operations especially at night and to establish permanent and mobile checkpoints.

These measures, he said, are intended to prevent the commission of crimes by thugs and goons, who are being hired by unscrupulous politicians to “silence” their rivals and their supporters.

Pestano said the Cordillera police office was able to gain ground in its peacekeeping efforts in Abra in the past few years, and this gain must be sustained.

The Abra Provincial Police Office is pushing its campaign to confiscate loose firearms which are being used by goons of politicians in the different towns to terrorize their constituents and their rivals.

Pestano noted that much have been said about the peace and order situation in Abra, which is one of the most challenging tasks of a police official assigned in the Cordillera, but significant changes have been instituted in that province in the past two years. He said he does not want the gains to be lost due to complacency.

Aside from the intensified operations, the Cordillera police leadership is working on the deployment of additional policemen to boost the peace and order drive.

The contingent of troops now deployed in Abra include elements of the Abra Provincial Police Office, the provincial police mobile group, the Task Force Abra, the Special Action Force, the Cordillera regional mobile group, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.