THE Philippine National Police (PNP) on Sunday, December 15, placed all its units under full alert to ensure peace and order during the entire holiday season.
In a statement, PNP spokesperson Brigadier General Bernard Banac said all PNP units in Luzon and Visayas will be on full alert until January 5, 2020.
He said PNP Officer-in-Charge Lieutenant General Archie Gamboa has ordered the mobilization of 69,335 PNP personnel.
They will be augmented by 157,264 force multipliers for law enforcement and public safety operations and for the implementation of the the PNP Enhanced Managing Police Operations (E-MPO) Strategy to address safety and security issues and concerns.
He said the PNP troop deployment plan for “Paskuhan 2019” includes places of convergence during the holiday season such as the community firecracker and display zones, assistance hubs, places of worship, commercial centers, road safety points, sea ports, train stations and airports.
Other units will be deployed for anti-criminality operations, anti-motorcycle-riding suspects and reactionary standby support force.
“The PNP Officer-in-Charge ordered stepped-up police visibility and preventive patrol operations to ensure safety and security of church-goers attending the traditional Simbang-Gabi that starts on Monday. (He) instructed all Police Regional Directors to beef-up night shift personnel and redirect mobile and foot patrol operations to maximize police visibility around churches where parishioners gather to attend the traditional nine-day dawn masses or Misa de Gallo ushering Christmas Day,” said Banac.
"We do not really anticipate major peace and order issues during the Yuletide Season, but, we are deploying more policemen in the field as a crime prevention measure," he added.
Gamboa also ordered police units to coordinate closely with their respective local government officials particularly from the Barangays to muster support from village watchmen, citizen volunteers and other force multipliers to be on the lookout for violators particularly of the ban on dangerous and illegal firecrackers as well as to be on the lookout for criminal elements engaged in common streetcrime such as robbery, theft, burglary of unattended residences, mugging, swindling and street gang violence who may take advantage of the occasions.
”Specifically (Gamboa) instructed field unit commanders to deploy mobile patrol units with blinkers ON to visibly establish police presence which has been proven as an effective deterrent to crime,” said Banac. (SunStar Philippines)