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Tuesday, August 20, 2002
Glo wants security in power plants amid NPA threat
PRESIDENT Gloria Arroyo Monday ordered the police and the military to secure all power plants across the country following last Saturday's attempt to sabotage the Pagbilao Power Plant in Quezon by the New People's Army (NPA).
Mrs. Arroyo said the attack prompted her to check the security preparations in Mauban, Quezon, during her visit Monday.
"The attack on the Pagbilao plant prompted me to look at the security preparations of the plants like the plant here in Mauban," the President said in her speech.
Mrs. Arroyo also assured that the government is prepared to protect all government installations as well as the safety of the public.
"I am here to tell everybody that our government, the armed forces and the police are prepared to protect public safety and security at all times. I'm also here to encourage our communities to get together with the uniformed services, work together in effective and responsive that will preclude acts of terrorism," she added.
In line with this, the President said she would call all power plant managers and even the congressmen with a power plant in their jurisdiction for a security briefing in Malacañang.
The President said this is aimed at preventing any possible attacks by the NPA rebels on power plants.
"We'll do the same thing for all of them so that we can have intelligence fusion and security fusion among the private forces and also government forces," she added.
Mrs. Arroyo also lauded the military's pro-active anti-terrorist stance that prevented a band NPA rebels from attacking the Pagbilao Power Plant.
The President also gave credit to civilians who gave vital information to the military about the movements of the NPA.
"We have a growing number of voluntary informers who are telling us where the enemies lie," she said in a message after inspecting and the set-up and security facilities of the Quezon Power Plant in Mauban.
The rebels sustained one fatality during an encounter with government troops. They later fled to the Quezon reservation, a forest park in the mountains of Pagbilao.
"I am glad to know that our security plans are not static and are aimed to actively seek out terrorist across a wider swath of operations," she added.
Mrs. Arroyo said the "communists are once more showing their true color" with fresh threats from the NPA to attack power facilities.' (Joel San Juan) |
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