SAFETY is second to none for Davao city before and during the implementation, the extension and the second extension of martial law in Mindanao.
I said before, because without the ordinary citizens knowing Davao City was all-set before President Rodrigo Duterte declared Proclamation 216 on May 23, 2017.
Weeks before this date, Davao City hired and trained 900 Auxiliary Police Officers to upgrade the police patrol system to secure the city. Just a day before the martial law was declared, May 22 to be exact, the Oplan Iron City was launched at the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) and sworn-in 900 Auxiliary Police Officers to duty.
On May 12, 2017, barely 10 days before the implementation of martial law, around 400 soldiers of the 16th Infantry Battalion were pulled-out from Jolo, Sulu and was deployed to Davao City to augment the Task Force Davao in securing the city, and immediately positioned two Armored Personnel Carriers at the city hall vicinity.
Last Wednesday, December 12, the writ of habeas corpus was again suspended by the 12 votes from the senate, extending martial law for the second time, to last up to the end of 2019.
With the renewed implementation, I see nothing wrong to secure our very own backyard. It is not even alarming to add securities this yuletide season just like what a homegrown mall along Ilustre Street is doing. Aside from two security guards assigned in each entrance and exit points, they have battery of guards in uniform assigned in the baggage counter, not only to administer the ins and outs of baggage but to determine and perceive suspicious behavior of folks and stuffs.
In this season of left to right spending and the extension of martial law, shopping malls in Mindanao must gear up for the security and safety of patrons. And the non-Mindanawon bashers against the martial law extension must cut their nails. Remember that the extension of martial law in Mindanao is as fierce as a hungry lion only to lawless elements, but a lion with a tickling silicon fang to the upright and law-abiding ones. (abrigodann@gmail.com)