Police ordered to conduct
checkpoints every 2 hours

The Bacolod City Police Office is bracing for the “tiempos muertos” (dead season) in Bacolod and Negros Occidental this month through intensified checkpoint operations citywide, Senior Insp. Lester Leada, BCPO Operations and Plans chief, said yesterday.

Leada said city police director Senior Supt. Ricardo de la Paz has ordered all police stations in Bacolod to conduct checkpoints in their areas every two hours.

He said crimes against property have been observed to increase by 25 to 50 percent every August as most sugar mills in Negros Occidental cease operation and a lot of sugar workers become jobless.

Leada said 100 more personnel from the Regional Public Safety Management Battalion and police trainees of the Regional Training School-6 will help ensure the peace and order in Bacolod City.

The policemen from the RPSMB will be used as beat patrollers while the RTS personnel will augment the organic members of the 10 police stations in Bacolod, he said.

Leada also said they are concentrating visibility patrols in areas covered by police stations 1 to 4, where a lot of theft and robbery incidents have been recorded.*APN

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Two injured in collision
of patrol car, motorcycle

A police patrol car and a motorcycle figured in a an accident in Sipalay City, Negros Occidental, Saturday, and a driver and a passenger, were injured, police records show.

The Toyota Altis patrol car, driven by Police Officer 1 Benile Agsoy, and the motorcycle driven by Ermon Magbanua collided at the corner of Quezon Street and Mercedes Boulevard in Sipalay City.

Magbanua and his backrider, Mario Bayloses, who sustained fractured legs and abrasions in the different parts of their bodies, were rushed to a hospital in Bacolod City, the Sipalay police said.

Agsoy, who extended financial assistance to the two victims, is now under the custody of the Sipalay police.

Both vehicles were also incurred damaged.

Meanwhile, four illegal gambling suspects were arrested Thursday in the cities of Cadiz and Escalante, Negros Occidental.

The arrest of Frances Pabalate and Marilou Sancho at Andrea Village in Brgy. Zone 2, Cadiz City, yielded assorted jai-alai illegal gambling paraphernalia of “Speed” and “Fronton Valley”, seven cellular phones, and a Honda XRM motorcycle.

Supt. Leonardo Angcon, NOPPO Intelligence Branch chief, also reported the arrest of Ronnie Abibas and Nilda Feliciano in Brgy. Old Poblacion, Escalante City, that led to the confiscation of various jai-alai paraphernalia, a black XRM motorcycle, and P287 in alleged cash bets.*GPB

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‘PHL a critical partner
in US anti-terrorism’

MANILA - Malacañang yesterday welcomed the U.S. State Department’s Country Report on Terrorism, citing the Philippines as a “critical partner” in its Anti-Terrorism Assistance program.

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said over government radio dzRB Radyo ng Bayan that the Philippines remains committed in strengthening efforts to combat terrorism “on a global front.”

“…(since) terrorism is not just a concern of the Philippines but is the concern of most of the countries in the world, we continue to push on with our efforts to help fight terrorism on a global front,” Valte said.

In a press release dated August 1, the Department of Foreign Affairs said the U.S. State Department had released the results of its 2011 Philippine Country Report on Terrorism recognizing the Philippine government’s progress in the fight against terrorism.

It said that because the Philippines maintained its strong counterterrorism cooperation with the United States by providing tactical and investigative training to support the transition in the southern Philippines from military to civilian counterterrorism authority in Mindanao, “the Philippines remained a critical partner nation in the State's Anti-Terrorism Assistance program.”

The report noted that the implementation of the Philippines 2011-2016 Internal Peace and Security Plan contributed to the progress in the fight against terrorism.

The Plan adopts a "whole of nation" approach to achieve lasting peace, security, and economic development, including the transfer of internal security functions from the Armed Forces of the Philippines to the Philippine National Police.

The U.S. State Department also highlighted institutional improvements directed towards addressing terrorism such as the creation of joint military and police task forces and interagency operations cells in in Zamboanga, Sulu, and Basilan; formation of anti-kidnapping-for-ransom group in Marawi City with military and police participation; and the establishment of the PNP's national Crisis Action Force that combined ground, air, and maritime units into a unified terrorist/crisis first response unit.*PNA

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