PNP launches program to stop NPA attacks on businesses

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police (PNP) has introduced a program that aims to stop New People’s Army (NPA) rebels from attacking agricultural plantations, mining industries and other businesses in Mindanao.

The “adopt your police station” program deploys police personnel in threatened areas in exchange for a donation of a piece of land that can be used to build a police camp to secure the area, Senior Superintendent Daniel Macatlang Jr., PNP directorate for integrated police operations in Western Mindanao, said yesterday.

Macatlang said the property should be at least 500 square meters and within the vicinity of the business to be protected.

He said personnel of the Risk Public Safety Battalion and Scene of the Crime Operatives would be deployed to man the camps.

“The number of police personnel to be deployed depends on the gravity of the threat. A police force ranging form a platoon to as big as a battalion can be deployed to stop the rebels’ harassment,” he said.

NPA rebels have stepped up their attacks against businesses in the countryside. Records show that incidents from Jan. 22 to March 15 surpassed the number for the whole of 2015.