AFP activates new task force to secure Davao City, ‘the alternate seat of power’

The Armed Forces of the Philippines is poised to form a joint task force in Davao City, as it is now considered "the alternate seat of the government."

The AFP Eastern Mindanao Command said Joint Task Force Haribon would be activated "amidst the changing security landscape in Davao City," the home city of President Rodrigo Duterte.

It is tasked to secure Davao City "and its immediate peripheries" against terrorism and other threats.

Moreover, the task force will "also assist the Presidential Security Group (PSG) in securing the President and other very important personalities (VIPs)."

It will be under the operational control of Eastmincom and will have control over:

• Task Force Davao and Task Force Samal (land component),
• Task Force 71, including the Navy Special Operations Unitm of Naval Forces Eastern Mindanao (naval component), and
• Elements of the Tactical Operations Group XI and the Special Operations Wing of the Philippine Air Force (air component).

Brig. Gen. Ronnie Evangelista, former commander of the Special Forces Regiment who's "skilled in counter-terrorism," will head the joint task force.

The Eastmincom will formally activate Joint Task Force Haribon on Saturday morning at the Naval Station Felix Apolinario in Panacan, Davao City.

Mayor Sara Duterte is expected to attend, along with other stakeholders.

The joint task force will be activated more than a month after an explosion ripped through the city's Roxas Night Market, killing 14 people and leaving some 60 others wounded.

The incident led Duterte to declare a state of lawless violence in the country.

The said declaration involves the increase of military and police presence throughout the country to combat not just terror threats, but also to help in the administration's drive against illegal drugs and criminality. — Rose-An Jessica Dioquino/NB, GMA News