The Police Regional Office XI augmented the Davao City Police Office with additional 100 personnel to secure the different areas of the city in the wake of the terrorist bombing in Isulan town, Sultan Kudarat, last week.
Chief Supt. Marcelo Morales, the regional police director, said that he called a meeting with all his intelligence personnel to come up with a threat assessment for Davao City.
“So far, we haven’t received any presence of threat groups, especially terrorist groups, coming from the nearby region,” Morales said in an interview last Friday at the sidelines of the retirement honors for Sr. Supt. Samuel Gadingan, the outgoing director of Davao del Sur Police Provincial Office (DSPPO).
“I have also intensified security measures,” he added. “Starting this day (Friday), we are already coordinating with the city director of Davao City Police Office on how he will deploy the augmentation.”
In a separate interview last week, Col. Nolasco Mempin, the commander of Task Force Davao, also said they received no confirmed reports regarding any terror threat on Davao City.
Mempin added they are always on red alert due to Martial Law.
“On the part of Task Force Davao, we have intensified our checkpoint operations, the conduct of random checkpoints, and coordinating with the other intelligence units since we know that the terror groups are mobile, and they are not staying in one area so we want to ensure that the city is safe and secure,” Mempin said.
Mempin also said that they are always communicating with Muslim communities so they won’t unwittingly provide refuge to known terrorists. “At least, we can lessen or minimize, if not totally prevent, the recruitment of terror group,” he added.
