PNP chief Purisima to visit PRO8 on Jan. 19, RSOTG to showcase accomplishments

By RPCRD, Police Regional Office 8
January 17, 2013

CAMP RUPERTO K. KANGLEON, Palo, Leyte  –  The Regional Special Operations Task Group (RSOTG) will showcase its accomplishment in the campaign against Partisan Armed Groups (PAGs) operating in Samar province during the visit of Police Director General Alan La Madrid Purisima, Chief of the Philippine National Police, scheduled on Saturday morning, January 19.

“Aside from activities targeting the humane and spiritual side of the candidates and the electorate like the successful peace covenant signing in Samar and the unity walk and prayer rally for SAFE 2013 on Sunday, we will also showcase the result of aggressive police operations targeting PAG personalities in Samar and loose firearms in other parts of the region,” said Police Chief Superintendent Elmer Ragadio Soria, director of the Police Regional Office 8 (PRO8).

Soria added that accomplishment only goes to show that PRO8 is serious in the crackdown against PAGs and in ensuring “secured and fair” elections in Eastern Visayas.

To recall, a successful peace covenant signing was initiated by PRO8 held last January 13 at the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Calbayog City with Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas presiding and garnering support from the Diocese of Calbayog and other stakeholders like the DILG, Commission on Elections, Armed Forces of the Philippines, civil society groups and signed by local candidates vying for different congressional and local elective posts.

The PRO8, in collaboration with the Commission on Elections will also conduct a “Unity Walk and Prayer Rally for Secure and Fair Elections (SAFE) 2013 on Sunday, January 20, in Tacloban City and provincial capitals regionwide to drumbeat the significance of the midterm elections.

On the otherhand, PRO8 activated the RSOTG-Samar after the province was included in the list of 15 “priority areas” for the May 2013 polls. The task group, led by Police Senior Superintendent Edgardo O. Basbas, Acting Deputy Regional Director for Administration, is tasked in the crackdown against the Montealto and Moloboco PAGs operating in Samar and the campaign against the proliferation of loose firearms.

Recent major RSOTG accomplishments include the neutralization of PAG leader Julito Aragon y Cachero alias Nonoy on December 23, 2013 in the hinterlands of Brgy. Peñaplata, Gandara, Samar. Aragon was listed as the Number One Most Wanted Person in Samar province and wanted for two counts of murder.

Also, two Montealto PAG members, Michael Angelo Mendoza and Felipe Casaljay, voluntarily surrendered to RSOTG last December 20 and 27, 2012 respectively while Wilfredo Moloboco of Moloboco PAG also turned himself in last December 19, 2012.

These accomplishments are aside from the assorted firearms recovered by RSOTG in police operations against loose firearms, the regional police chief added.

Soria earlier assured that he will ensure that the will of the people is truly reflected in the upcoming elections, even recalling his successful experience as Commander of Task Force: ABRA during the 2010 national and local elections that ensured a peaceful conduct of elections in said province, then considered as “election hotspot” due to the presence of political warlords and heavily armed PAGs.

Police Director General Alan La Madrid Purisima, a member of the Philippine Military Academy “Dimalupig” Class of 1981, took over the reins of the 148,000-strong Philippine National Police last December 18, 2012 as its 18th chief since PNP was formed in 1991.

The PNP chief was a former aide of the late President Corazon Aquino, among other key posts he held in the police force, including being the former director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).