To bring about true and lasting peace in Nueva Ecija, local police and Army officials have signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for a joint war against criminality and threats to national security, especially insurgency.
The agreement calls for a determined effort by the police and the military to work hand in hand to maintain peace and order in Nueva Ecija, which has been rocked by a rash of political killings in past years.
“(We want) a kind of peace that both (government) organizations believe would later lead to more investments and reduce unemployment in the province,” said Senior Superintendent Napoleon Taas, Nueva Ecija police director.
Taas and Lt. Col. Gilbert Gapay, commander of the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Battalion, together with the province’s 32 city and municipal police chiefs and heads of the three Provincial Mobile Groups signed the MOA Saturday at the provincial police headquarters in Cabanatuan City.
Under the agreement, Army units and the local police would jointly man checkpoints, especially at the provincial boundary, while local PMG teams would accompany military units in internal security operations against the New People’s Army.
The agreement also called for continuing efforts on civil relations. “We want to (deprive the rebels) the opportunity to return and conduct recruitment activities,” Taas said.
Joint police-military operations have so far cleared NPA-infested barangays in Jaen, Cabiao, San Jose and Carranglan towns and Cabanatuan City.