PNP augments forces for the Xmas holidays
BY MONTESA GRINO

BORACAY - The Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) will have additional police personnel in this island with the expected number of both domestic and foreign visitors who want to spend their Christmas vacation here.

According to Chief Supt. Geary Barias, PRO-6 regional director, more or less 30 policemen assigned in Cebu City for the Asean Summit will be temporarily detained in this island after the summit was postponed.

"We will transfer them to Boracay next year so we could have additional police forces in the area," he stressed.

Barias said the present force here is already sufficient, adding that the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are also stationed in the island aside from the detailed Boracay Special Tourist Police Office (BSTPO).

Only the other day, Task Group Boracay was created to ensure the safety of this renowned island.

Several top ranking officers of the military, police and intelligence community in Western Visayas sealed their commitment to support the task group by signing a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) at the Conference Room of the PRO-6 in Camp Martin Delgado in Iloilo City.

The MOA emphasized the cooperation and support on the security of the island by each party involved with the AFP, Philippine National Police (PNP), National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), PCG and the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) together with their respective offices in the region to embody the creation, mission and functions of Task Group Boracay.

The PNP will still be leading the task group. With this the task group is recommending the local government unit here to implement the I.D. system (identification card) of all the workers. Anybody without the ID would be placed under investigation.

Barias said that through this system, policemen could easily be identified under what agencies the workers are connected with in case of any untoward incident.

"In case of incidents, we could easily locate the suspects if they have documented papers filed at their office or company," he stressed.

He added that high-tech television cameras will soon be put up in every choke point of the island.