Closer ties between RP, Aussie cops pledged

Police forces of the Philippines and Australia vowed to strengthen ties on intelligence gathering, following a recent visit of top Filipino police officials to Australia.

Director Ricardo de Leon, community relations chief of the Philippine National Police, said PNP chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and Commissioner Joseph Keelty of the Australian Federal Police have agreed to exchange liaison officers to bolster intelligence ties between their two agencies.

Ebdane said Filipino and Australian police officials had discussed "an agreement in principle" for Australian experts to train Filipino policemen and soldiers.

The PNP and the Australian Federal Police plan to forge an agreement to formalize the strong cooperation between the two police forces, he added.

PNP intelligence director Chief Superintendent Robert Delfin said Filipino and Australian police officials discussed international drug trafficking, human smuggling, commercial fraud, money laundering and other transnational crimes.

Delfin, Director Avelino Razon Jr. and other top PNP officials joined Ebdane in a visit to Australian police facilities in Canberra, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, and Canunga Training Center.

They returned home last Sunday.

In Canberra, Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople and Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer will sign today an agreement on security cooperation to combat terrorism and allow joint military training exercises between their two countries.

"Australia had shown a keen desire to conclude this (agreement), especially at a time when the entire world is consumed with the need to address the issue of terrorism and after having just gone through a painful experience of its own with the death of many Australians in Bali on Oct. 12, 2002," Ople said.

"It is with these in mind that the Philippines proposed a subregional mechanism against money laundering and financing of international terrorism, smuggling and border control issues, illegal trafficking in weapons, ammunition, explosives, and defense cooperation relating to international terrorist activities."

Under the agreement, the Philippines and Australia will boost cooperation in intelligence gathering, rescue operations and exchange of information, among other things, he added.

Ople is on a week-long trip to Australia and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. called yesterday for the immediate release of the P5 billion Armed Forces modernization fund to boost the military’s capability to fight terrorists in Mindanao.

Villar, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, condemned Tuesday’s bombings in Davao and Tagum cities, which killed 21 and injured about 116 others.

"The latest dastardly acts of wimpish terrorists in Southern Philippines are telling the public that they are willing to sacrifice the lives of innocent civilians just to meet their goals," he said. "This is a nightmare for the people."