NCRPO’s elite fighting unit tops SWAT competition

The Regional Special Action Unit (RSAU), the elite fighting unit of the National Capital Region Police Office, dominated the 2nd NCRPO Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) shooting competition held at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

The RSAU Light Reaction Platoon (LRP) and 1st Platoon garnered the top two places, besting 13 other SWAT teams of the various police districts and stations in Metro Manila.

NCRPO chief Director Vidal Querol said the competition is aimed at testing the competitiveness of SWAT teams that have been commissioned to secure athletes and delegates during the 23rd Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) as well as confronting the terrorist threat in Metro Manila.

Querol awarded the championship trophy and the P5,000 prize to RSAU director Superintendent Roberto Villanueva during the closing ceremonies yesterday at the NCRPO shooting range at Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City. The awarding ceremony was highlighted by a live-fire hostage rescue demonstration conducted by the RSAU’s and the Southern Police District’s all-female SWAT teams.

"This is our way of testing the fighting capabilities of our fighting units and at the same time foster camaraderie among our SWAT units," said Querol.

Actually, both the LRP team and the SWAT team from the SPD finished the four-course competition with an aggregate score of 628 points.

However, training director Senior Superintendent Danilo Pelisco declared LRP the winner because it posted a time of 15:55 compared to the SPD SWAT’s 19.11.

RSAU’s 1st platoon only posted only an aggregate score of 624, but overtook the SPD in the standings by registering a time of 18:37.

RSAU 1st platoon received the P3,000 prize while SPD, which came in third received P2,000 prize.

The RSAU shooting teams also dominated the standings in the first NCRPO SWAT shooting competition held last July.

Unlike the first competition wherein the participating teams complained that the courses highly favored the RSAU, there were no objections from any unit during the two-day shootfest.

"All SWAT teams had an umpire in the committee and were allowed a run- through last Sunday for a feel of the courses," Pelisco explained.

Querol enjoined the all female SWAT teams to sharpen their acquired skills and "to accomplish their task with flying colors."

The NCRPO chief also directed the SWAT units to prepare themselves for the next shooting competition scheduled either on February or March next year.