Gamboa wants a ‘more active’ PNP in fight vs. Reds

Philippine National Police (PNP) officer-in-charge Police Lieutenant General Archie Francisco Gamboa on Monday said he wants policemen to have a more active role in the government's fight against communist insurgency.

"We are a regular member of the national task force, ito 'yung bibigyan namin ng trabaho 'yung aming mobile forces kasi ako honestly, sabi ko parang kulang pa 'yung contribution natin sa effort na 'yan," Gamboa said during a press briefing.

"We will be actively participating and we will probably request from the Armed Forces and even the national task force a more active role of the PNP in this ending the insurgency," he added.

According to PNP spokesman Police Brigadier General Bernard Banac, the police, at present, perform a supporting role to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in combat operations against communists.

"But primarily, we conduct law enforcement functions such as arrests, investigations, filing of criminal charges, service of warrants, and other similar activities," Banac told GMA News Online.

Gamboa further admitted that the police need to be educated more about the communist rebels following the cops' mere support role to the military.

"Nagpaparticipate naman 'yung ating mobile force but ang primarily na we admit is 'yung education muna ng mga tropa namin on the enemy kasi matagal na rin kaming hindi sumama sa campaign on the communist terrorist groups," Gamboa said.

Meanwhile, Gamboa said the challenge in ending communist insurgency in the Philippines also lies in the communist group's legal fronts.

"So kung meron silang mga organization in the students, labor, and the industries then probably diyan 'yung i-address squarely ng PNP but we haven't discussed the details of that yet," Gamboa said. — RSJ, GMA News