GMA takes over security campaign

President Arroyo has told Cabinet members, military and police officials that she will personally supervise the internal security campaign.

This developed as the government launched a "total offensive" yesterday against all internal threats to the country’s security. The offensive — as defined by the government — covers communist insurgents, extremist groups, criminal syndicates and economic saboteurs.

National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said the Pre-sident, during the joint command conference he organized in Malacañang last Saturday, informed her Cabinet as well as top officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that she will personally supervise internal security matters.

"The President decisively redirected the campaign for a total offensive combining socio-economic programs and military and police operations," Golez told The STAR. "The President takes full strategic control over the internal security campaign."

During the command conference the President also underscored her full control of the military and police and civilian supremacy over the government’s security forces.

Golez said the new internal security campaign will involve more than just the country’s law enforcers, but also solicit the help of the private sector and the general public.

"The campaign is multi-dimensional, involving civilian agencies, the military and the police," Golez said. To emphasize the government’s total approach to fighting insurgency and criminality, the President had Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman, National Anti-Poverty Commission chief Teresa Deles, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Eduardo Ermita and Presidential Adviser for Special Concerns Norberto Gonzales attend the meeting.

Also present at the command conference were Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina Jr., and the top officials and area commanders of the PNP and AFP.

Golez said Mrs. Arroyo ordered the realignment of the military and the police in Bicol, the Visayas and Mindanao as well as the re-focusing of targets. She even chose the equipment and military and police assets the government will use in the internal security drive.

According to Golez, the military and police will be focused on the armed enemies of state, including the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

The civilian agencies at the command conference have also been tasked with addressing poverty, which the President said is the root of poverty.

"This is actually not totally new. We have slowly been implementing this , but now our efforts are coming together for that push," AFP Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) chief Maj. Gen. Roy Kyamko told The STAR.

"The whole government machinery is working all together to solve the insurgency problem with the people," Kyamko said.

Kyamko also said a new unit - the Infantry Brigade Separate — has been formed for the Bicol region, where there is a resurgence in the activities of the NPA. The new Army unit will report directly to Kyamko instead of passing through the AFP’s regular chain of command.

"This is for closer supervision and faster decision-making," Kyamko said. Similar realignments are being done in critical areas with high rebel or criminal activity, he said.

During the four-hour command conference, the President witnessed the signing of the joint implementing guidelines for closer partnership between the AFP and the PNP in the internal security campaign.

Under these guidelines, Mindanao was partitioned into two operating areas, with the AFP covering southwestern Mindanao where the Abu Sayyaf and other terrorist groups operate, and the PNP covering northeastern Mindanao where the NPA is active.

"There are different approaches in different areas, depending on the kind of threat, but all (internal security arrangements) are holistic and coordinated," Kyamko said.

A Palace press statement yesterday said the AFP, through its Anti-Crime Task Force, has already participated in various anti-drug operations with the National Bureau of Investigation and the PNP.

"Operation Caterpillar" is a series of raids conducted recently in the provinces of Ilocos Sur, Maguindanao, Zambales, Camarines Sur, Davao del Sur and Sarangani that netted P180 million worth of shabu and marijuana plants grown by drug trafficking syndicates.

Malacañang also said it has written off three kidnap-for-ransom groups following another series of joint operations by the PNP and AFP.