DND eyes barangays as anti-terror frontliners

The Department of National Defense is eyeing the barangays as frontliners in the nation’s counter-terrorism efforts.

Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Avelino Cruz has met with Liga ng mga Barangay president James Marty Lim to discuss ways by which barangays can play a major role in fighting terrorism.

Lim said barangays should be equipped with adequate facilities to be able to report suspicious activities to higher authorities.

"Terrorist activities are first conceived and planned out in barangays," he said. He noted barangays undertake activities aimed at achieving homeland security. Tanods patrol every barangay, and it is also in barangays where issues and community problems are first reported and resolved.

As the primary pillars in the criminal justice system in the country, every barangay should have an intelligence network that processes knowledge and information, Lim explained.

Cruz said cooperative efforts on counter-terrorism between the DND and the Liga ng mga Barangay would be a great boost to the work being done by the Anti-Terrorism Task Force (ATTF).

"The DND is trying to instill the 4 A’s — awareness, alertness, (right) actions and advocacy in every Filipino citizen," Cruz said.

The DND chief agreed with Lim that the communication systems in barangays should be upgraded so that strangers and suspected terrorists can be easily monitored in communities nationwide by the Anti-Terrorism Task Force Operations Center in Camp Aguinaldo.

Currently, the DND’s ATTF instructs citizens who have information about terrorists and any form of terrorism to call hotlines, (+632) 9127422, 9127608 or 09213257487.

The Liga also advises barangay residents to contact its hotlines (+632) 6320710 to 12. Tips and information from barangays may be sent in by texting to marty [space] [message] and send to 2948 for Globe subscribers, and to 3948 for SMART subscribers.

The DND is pushing for the early passage of the Anti-Terrorism Bill. The provincial and city chapter presidents of the Liga ng mga Barangay have issued a manifesto of support of this bill.