Deployment of Army Riverine Battalion sought
ZAMBOANGA City Peace and Order Council (CPOC) asked National Defense chief Voltaire Gazmin to deploy the Philippine Army's Riverine Battalion to augment the city's security measures.
Mayor Celso Lobregat said the request was made through a CPOC resolution adopted after the August 5 bombing at the Zamboanga International Airport.
Two people died while 24 others were wounded when a bomb exploded at 6:15 p.m. of August 5 outside the arrival area of the airport terminal building.
Lobregat said he presented to Gazmin the CPOC resolution when the latter paid a courtesy visit on him at City Hall Tuesday afternoon.
Gazmin visited Lobregat after he attended a command conference at the Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) headquarters together with Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Lieutenant General Ricardo David Jr.
Lobregat said the CPOC resolution number 8, series 2010 was adopted in the light of the series of shooting incidents and other security problems affecting villages of Talon-Talon, Mampang, and Arena Blanco in view of the limited manpower of the military's Task Force Zamboanga (TFZ), resulting from the transfer of units and personnel under the area of responsibility of TFZ to other areas.
Lobregat said he and Gazmin also discussed about the August 5 bomb explosion at the Zamboanga International Airport and the other disturbing incidents, such as the July 22 strafing incident of a Rural Transit Bus in Tagasilay and a similar incident also in the same area a week after.
Lobregat, in cooperation with the police and military, had undertaken the necessary measures to sustain the peace and order in Zamboanga City.
However, the concerned agencies believe that the deployment of additional forces would help existing forces better address the city's peace and order problems.
The police authorities, in cooperation with other concerned agencies, are seriously investigating the case. They are following-up all leads in a bid to resolve the August 5 airport bombing incident, Lobregat said. (Bong Garcia)