Remote Abra town finally getting own police station

ByDexter A. See

CAMP DANGWA, La Trinidad, Benguet – Tineg, the remotest town in the conflict-stricken province of Abra, will have its own police station to be built in Barangay Alaoa to serve the needs of thousands of residents who never had their own law enforcers for decades.

Chief Supt. Eugene Martin, Cordillera regional police director, said establishment of a permanent police station will further bring peace and development in the town.

The police station is now being built and would likely be inaugurated next month by Philippine National Police Director General Jesus Verzosa himself, Martin said.

Currently, a makeshift police station is being operated in Barangay Caganayan that greatly helped in the dismantling of private armed groups employed by warring politicians who have wrecked havoc in the remote town in the past.

Martin said police visibility and the support of the Armed Forces of the Philippines have encouraged community involvement in the peacekeeping efforts of the government.

Barangay Alaoa is considered the most accessible area for Tineg residents, whom police claimed have long suffered from violence due to the negligence of political leaders.

According to Martin, the Cordillera regional police office is leading the way in bringing back the authority of the government in Tineg even to the grassroots level.

He said the new police station would encourage other municipalities, particularly conflict-stricken areas, to follow Tineg’s lead.

Both the PNP and the Department of the Interior and Local Government challenged Abra mayors and their subordinates to hold office in their respective towns and not in the safety and comfort of their so-called embassies in the capital town of Bangued.

Martin said the regional police office, the Abra provincial police office and Task Force Abra have been conducting a series of medical and dental missions in Tineg in the past few months to gain the trust and confidence of the people after years of political violence.