Headlines
Best Pinagsanib SWAT grads to lead AFP anti-drugs opns
TAGBILARAN CITY, February 28 (PIA)–The past month may have seen a lull in the local anti-drugs war, but now, expect some change. If the suspension of police in anti-drug operations dealt a huge setback in the anti drug war, the undermanned Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in the lead role, and the army being thrown into the task they were not trained for, arrests which then happened daily, ebbed. Both the military and the PDEA are not equipped to wrestle the immensity of the beast that the drug problem has mutated, a Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) member commented at the February 2016 drug war accomplishment. Last Tuesday however, two teams of nine squads from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) completed the 77 days 496 hours of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) along with 46 members of the Philippine National Police (PNP). The full 72 hours training course equips the AFP with 18 men some serious capability to handle a variety of crisis situations in urban warfare, counter-terrorism, urban assault, hostage taking, close quarter combat and a menu of aggressive breaches of closed structures, said PNP Deputy regional Director for Administration PCSupt. Franklin Moises Mabanag. Coming in as keynote speaker and guest in the possibly first in the country joint training for AFP and the PNP, General Mabanag hailed Bohol for the rare convergence of police and army and assured that the PNP still has some more skills for the trained group which has just been enthroned to the ranks of the police elites. All belonging to Class 32-2016, Class Pinagsanib is actually a team of... read moreBPPO Proud of 62 new SWAT Members Innovation 1st in the country-PA
AFTER THE TRAGEDY that hit the Province of Bohol which left everyone stunned, the Bohol Provincial Police Office (BPPO) is sending the message that Boholanos can now feel safer. This is because just last Tuesday, sixty-two members of the Philippine National Police and of the Armed Forces of the Philippines gladly participated in the graduation rites as new members of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Class “Pinagsanib” group after an exhaustive and rigid two-month special training. The number started out with sixty-four trainees, but then, of the three women who have initially enlisted, two dropped out which then left a sole woman survivor who eventually graduated with sixty-one men in uniform. The SWAT graduation ceremonies at the BPPO grounds commenced with a simulation of an actual combat situation where SWAT know-how and special mind tactics were deployed right before the very eyes of the guests. The adrenaline rush was upped even more when three explosions were witnessed by everyone and the graduating class exhibited more special tactics, not only to please the audience, but more so, to show what would happen to offenders when they cross paths with Bohol’s latest SWAT corps. Participants and guests were warmly greeted by Bohol PNP Chief Felipe Natividad, with Guest of Honor, PCSupt. Franklin Moises R. Mabanag, Deputy Regional Director for Administration, PRO-7; and Provincial Administrator Alfonso “Ae” R. Damalerio, in lieu of Gov. Edgar M. Chatto. The Bohol SWAT Team is a composite group of the PNP and AFP, a clear innovation of the 302nd Achievers Brigade, the 47th Infantry Brigade, BPPO, the Provincial... read more