DAVAO City Council approved on suspended rules Tuesday, June 6, a resolution requesting President Rodrigo Duterte to deploy additional one battalion and two fast boats to be utilized by the city.
Davao City Councilor Nilo Abellera, during the Pulong-pulong ni Pulong Tuesday, said that one battalion and two fast boats form part of the recommendation of the City Peace and Order Council (CPOC).
Abellera said that the city currently has two battalions, which is one battalion less compared when President Rodrigo Duterte was the city mayor.
He said the security forces aim to have that number back, hence, the recommendation.
He added that the two fast boats were recommended by the CPOC.
"Kasi sa mga coastal, hindi naman lingid sa atin na minsan dumadaan din sila sa coastal natin so we need additional boasts for the city and for the region (Because in the coastal areas, it is not a secret that sometimes the (terrorist) will pass through the coastal so we need additional boats for the city and for the region."
Public Safety and Security chief Benito De Leon said the battalion is eyed to man the uptown and midtown areas of the city.
"We have divided Davao City to three geographical zones for military purposes so that is the uptown, midtown, and downtown. Downtown is the metropolitan part of the city and Task Force Davao has the responsibility in maintaining the security. What we lack perhaps is the uptown, hinterland areas of the city. I refer to Paquibato and the adjacent barangays and for midtown for which we have a gap that is between the areas of Lapanday and other areas which we cannot cover. That is why we need more forces to cover that," he added.
He said that while there is a request for infantry battalions, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio directed the activation of Special Civil Armed forces Geographical Units (Cafgu) to put more manpower on the ground and help the military in its anti-insurgency campaign.
He said that as part of the Regional Peace and Order Council, they are required to come up with Scaa requirements as to the instruction of the President to give priority in the resolution of the peace and order situation in Davao region, all over the country.
"Rpoc directed us the different provinces and the city including, to come up with recommendations we submitted three for funding by the national government. Unfortunately our request did not pass the approval at the time from the national that was at the time that the SILG was also removed from his post. As the proposal did not prosper, the city mayor immediately directed that we instead fund the requirement from the city funds if only to provide more manpower," he said.
De Leon said that 240 members of Scaa were hired by the city with the funding of more than 50 million yearly.
Abellara added that that they also aim to pass a resolution next week to support the move.
"Next week if the document will be forwarded from the city legal, we will pass a resolution enacting in behalf of the city mayor to enter a Memorandum of Agreement with the 10th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army to organize train and employ the Cafgu active auxillary companies in the city," he said.
He added that they also eye to enact an ordinance requesting the AFP-PNP to conduct joint checkpoints in Davao City for the safety of the constituents.
The same resolution is now at the City Legal Office.