Ex-mutineer trains PDEA agents on VIP security

MANILA, Philippines - Forty agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) have completed training in VIP protection under former military rebel officer, Lawrence San Juan. In simple ceremonies Friday at the PDEA office in Quezon City, the agents were handed out their certificates of completion by PDEA director general Dionisio Santigao and San Juan, who was once a hard core leader of Magdalo group that staged the July 2003 Oakwood mutiny. On June 7 last year, San Juan pleaded guilty before the Makati regional trial court in the coup d' etat case against him and the other officers involved in the case. A military court also discharged him from the service April this year after he pleaded guilty to charges of violating provisions of the Article of War. In an interview, Santiago said San Juan had personally taught his knowledge in VIP security to the PDEA operatives that he learned from his cadet days at the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City. A product of the PMA class of 1997, San Juan also experienced US training as an officer of the elite Light Reaction Company. Santiago said the 40 PDEA agents who finished the VIP protection course would be assigned as security personnel of foreign delegates in the Asean-China Cooperative Response to Dangerous Drugs (ACCORD) meet scheduled from July 16 to 18 in Manila. Santiago said the agents completed their 10-day training course at the PDEA Academy facilities in Silang, Cavite. The course is patterned after the model from the French police in VIP protection. Before the certificates were handed out, the PDEA agents made a demonstration on how they could save a foreign delegate in an ambush situation and eventually escape from would-be assassins. - GMANews.TV