Civilian Volunteer Organizations (CVOs) will not be allowed to bear arms, but will only be mobilized for community building programs, particularly the rehabilitation of communities,” PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome said.
Bartolome, along with top PNP officers in Mindanao, recently attended a workshop to bring all stakeholders to work together for a program of lasting peace in Mindanao.
According to Bartolome, the organization of Police Auxiliary Units and CVOs will now be given less priority. Instead, the PNP will tap the services of some 1,000 police recruits who are now undergoing the Field Training Program in the different Police Regional Offices in Mindanao.
The workshop also aims to determine areas that need to be hardened or where defensive postures need to be strengthened to prevent incidents similar to what happened in North Cotabato and Lanao provinces,” he added.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) is identifying measures that would be adopted to prevent attacks by renegade Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels similar to the recent atrocities in North Cotabato and Lanao del Norte. (PIA/Bohol)
