PNP sends elite police force to Mindanao in renewed drive vs kidnapping

The Philippine National Police is sending elite police commandos to Mindanao to boost the newly reactivated police-military anti-kidnapping task force there. PNP chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome said this should help a sustained law enforcement campaign in the Central Mindanao area. A news release on the PNP website quoted Bartolome as saying the police component of the task force, dubbed Task Force Ranao, will include:

• Police commandos of the Special Action Force (SAF) and the Regional Public Safety Battalions of Police Regional Office 12 and ARMM to form the muscle of the police component
• Intelligence and investigative support from the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response (PACER) and Intelligence Group (IG)
• A legal offensive component from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and PNP Legal Service.

Bartolome himself served 11 years combat duty as a junior officer in Central Mindanao. He said the reactivation of the Joint PNP-AFP Task Force Ranao manifests the "strong-willed response of the national leadership to harness the combined might of the PNP and AFP into a formidable force that will lock horns with criminal syndicates, armed groups and threat organizations" behind a series of kidnapping incidents in Cotabato City and Central Mindanao. Last Thursday, officials led by secretaries Voltaire Gazmin (defense) and Jesse Robredo (interior), and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr. and Bartolome reactivated the task force. Named task force commander was Chief Superintendent Francisco Cristobal, Deputy Director for Integrated Police Operations in Western Mindanao (DIPO-WM). Col. Daniel Lucero, Commander of the Army’s 104th Brigade was named Deputy Task Force Commander. Meanwhile, Bartolome said the reactivation of Task Force Ranao will help lay the foundations of peace and order in Mindanao to pave the way for socio-economic development initiatives in the Southern Philippines. — LBG, GMA News