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Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Task Force Waterfront becomes ‘Compact Waterfront’
By Ruby P. Silubrico
WITH the change in management, the Task Force Waterfront (TFWF) is now called the Compact Waterfront.
The decision was arrived at after eight village chiefs and the police held a conference at Camp Martin Delgado’s Conference Hall Tuesday.
The village chiefs present were Frank “Antak” Espinosa of Monica, Sergio Espinosa of Legaspi, Ricardo Tiña of Muelle Loney, Lilianne Sorioso of Zamora Milleza, Consejo Ardeño of Sto Rosario Duran, Evaristo Lopez of Veterans Village, Romualdo Jalandoni of General Hughes and Lelia Esteves of Concepcion.
Iloilo City Police Office Director Norlito Bautista said that he would direct Superintendent Ruperto Floro, chief of the Iloilo City Mobile Group (ICMG) to spearhead Compact Waterfront.
Bautista said that the ICMG would augment the area to further strengthen the troop and maintain peace and order.
Espinosa said that he is amenable to Police Regional Director Geary Barias’s move as long as the police won’t abandon the area and intensify visibility. He vowed to cooperate with the police as long as the latter would respect the village chiefs.
Misinformation
Meanwhile, Barias Tuesday made clarifications on the allegation that Task Force Waterfront was disbanded.
He clarified that the personnel covering the waterfront area would remain but it will be under the control of the ICPO.
He assured Senator Franklin Drilon that “We will only change the management and responsibility but our personnel would remain there.”
Barias has pulled out TFWF Chief, Lazaro Torcita and let the ICPO take over.
“I respect Senator Drilon. I know he is among the persons who created the TFWF. We assure that the peace and order in the area be maintained because this move would further strengthen our personnel and our operation,” Barias added.
Drilon, in a recent interview, said that he feared that the PRO6 would abolish the TFWF and this could lead to the return of killings, extortion and proliferation of illegal drugs in the area.
The waterfront area covers the villages of Legaspi, Muelle Loney, Sta. Monica, Zamora Milleza, Sto Rosario Duran, Veterans Village, Concepion and General Hughes.
The TFWF was created on Dec. 4, 2002 under then Regional Director Marcelo Navarro.
Meanwhile, Barias reiterated that there’s no politics behind his decision. “I did it on my own; no politics here. If there’s somebody behind this move, that’s Geary Barias.”
“The waterfront is now a peaceful place so we need only to maintain it,” he added.
Former TFWF Chief Lazaro Torcita said that they were able to meet the objectives of the force, by maintaining peace and order, lesser incidents, eradicate extortion and minimize drugs proliferation.
(August 9, 2006 issue)
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