PNP directs units to secure government officials against ambushes, attacks
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police will use all its resources to find the people behind shootings targeting government officials in recent weeks, Police Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said at the flag-raising ceremony at the national police headquarters on Monday.
PNP chief Azurin also ordered regional police directors to conduct threat assessments on government officials in their areas.
"Engage them one by one. See to it that their security concerns are all attended to," he said.
The order comes as a spate of shootings has raised concerns at the House of Representatives, where House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez has called for an emergency meeting with PNP leadership on Monday to discuss the security situation.
Romualdez said the attacks seem to be politically motivated and that he wants to know whether lapses in intelligence or in police readiness contributed to the attacks.
Ohto Montawal, mayor of Datu Montawal in Maguindanao del Sur, was hit in the hip and on his left arm when gunmen shot at his vehicle in Pasay City on February 22. The shooting happened a few days after Rommel Alameda, vice mayor of Aparri in Cagayan, was killed along with five others in an ambush in neighboring Nueva Vizcaya province on February 19.
Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. was wounded in an ambush in a remote village in Maguing town on February 17, where four of his aides were killed and another was wounded.
"We'll be using all the resources of the PNP to hunt and track them," Azurin said of the gunmen in the attacks as he also ordered PNP support units to conduct their own operations to help "make sure they will face the consequences of their actions."
The PNP reported last wednesday that one of the suspects in the ambush on Gov. Adiong was killed in a shootout during police pursuit operations.
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