CAMP DANGWA: The Police Regional Office in the Cordillera Administrative Region (PRO-CAR) said it dismantled two potential private armed groups (PAGs) and is closely monitoring five others.
PRO-CAR Director Brig. Gen. David Peredo said 34 members from the two groups agreed to surrender and turn over firearms to the police.
They committed not to engage in activities that may cause chaos, especially during the 2025 midyear elections, Peredo said during the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas press briefing at the regional police headquarters in La Trinidad, Benguet Tuesday.
‘We do not have PAGS but there are potential groups and we have neutralized two groups, with the members surrendering,’ Peredo confirmed. ‘Hindi naman tayo magpapabaya lalo at may monitoring tayo sa presence nila (We will not be remiss in our duties since we have been monitoring their presence).’
Field officers have been advised to include in their information campaigns the need to report the presence of new faces in their communities.
Col. Dam
ian Olsim, PRO-CAR intelligence group chief, said in the same press conference said there were initially nine potential PAGS but were broken up after the surrender of the two groups’ members.
Peredo said he will be going to the provinces and will arrange meetings with politicians, noting that dialogues can diffuse brewing tensions heading to the filing of certificates of candidacy by the first week of October.
Wanted: Top students
Meanwhile, Deputy Regional Director for Administration Brig. Gen. Rogelio Raymundo is urging graduates to consider joining the force.
‘We prefer those who are PRC (Professional Regulation Commission) license holders in our desire to select the best from the thousands of applicants,’ he said.
‘We believe that we get many applicants primarily because the young people have become nationalistic, that they want to serve their country through the police. Security of tenure is just secondary to the reasons we see because we implement a very strict recruitment process and we want the b
est to be in the ranks,’ he added.
Editha Puddoc, Director of the National Police Commission-Cordillera, said an average of 1,200 examinees try their luck every application season.
She said the basic requirement for an applicant is a college degree. Most applicants took up Criminology while others are licensed teachers or nurses.
Source: Philippines News Agency
