Police Regional Office-Central Visayas spokesperson Lt. Col. Gerard Ace Pelare. (PNA file photo)
CEBU CITY – The Philippine National Police (PNP) in Central Visayas vowed to align their anti-terrorism operations with the rules of the Supreme Court on the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, a police spokesperson said on Monday.
Lt. Col. Gerard Ace Pelare, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office (PRO)-7, said the police will coordinate with the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Visayas Command to make their joint operational methods aligned with the new rules set by the court in prosecuting terrorism cases.
“We are already preparing together with our counterparts in the AFP on how to deal with the necessary adjustments with the recent passage and effectivity of the rules,” Pelare told reporters here.
On Jan. 1, the SC said it approved the procedural rules on petitions and applications in connection with the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 (ATA) and its related laws.
The procedural rules took effect on Jan.15, 2024.
“The Rules shall apply to petitions and applications regarding detentions without judicial warrants of arrest, surveillance orders, freeze orders, restrictions on travel, designations, proscriptions, and other court issuances promulgated to implement the ATA and other related laws,” the SC said.
Pelare said that even before the release of the new rules, the PNP and the AFP in Central Visayas had successfully dismantled the guerilla fronts in Negros Island and Bohol province.
He cited the programs of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict in bringing government projects to the far-flung, especially those that are threatened by communist terrorists.
Fighters of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army tried but failed to re-establish their dismantled fronts because the people would not want their presence in their communities.
“We are not only talking about armed operations. What we are doing is also in line with NTF ELCAC’s whole government approach,” he added. (PNA)
