Espino remains RPOC chairman
LINGAYEN–Governor Amado Espino Jr. was re-elected chairman of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) while Chief Superintendent Orlando Mabutas, police regional director of Ilocos, was elected vice chairman.
La Union and Pangasinan have already been declared clear of insurgency but there is still one barangay in the former and 36 in the latter that remain under NPA threat.
Mabutas said some areas in the provinces of Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte are still insurgency affected, with 86 barangays in Ilocos Sur and 27 in Ilocos Norte still under threat of the New People’s Army (NPA).
Espino said while the Internal Security Operation (ISO) has already been turned over by the Armed Forces of the Philippines to the police through the Provincial Peace and Order Council, the Philippine Army maintains a presence in Pangasinan and are on standby to assist the police in case of an NPA attack.
The RPOC election, held at the Capitol Resort Hotel on September 16, was attended by representatives of the governors of La Union, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte, city mayors Amadeo Perez IV of Urdaneta and Benjamin Lim of Dagupan, the four police provincial directors in Region 1, officials of the Philippine Army based in Region 1, and other police directors of different provinces.–LM
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