PNP to secure power transmission lines

PNP Chief Director General Nicanor A. Bartolome. INQUIRER file photo

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has agreed to secure the facilities of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) against threats posed by communist and Moro rebels who are known to attack power transmission lines and towers, particularly in the countryside.

A memorandum of agreement was signed by the PNP and the NGCP on Tuesday at Camp Crame that assigned the former as the “security and protection assistance provider” of various NGCP installations all over the country.

Newly installed PNP Chief Director General Nicanor A. Bartolome signed the agreement with NGCP’s chief administrative officer Anthony L. Almeda in the presence of senior PNP officials.

In a statement, Bartolome said the PNP and the NGCP “will become partners in providing our people the much needed power supply, especially in far-flung areas in Mindanao and other part of Luzon and Visayas.”

“We are happy that they have tapped and become partners with us in giving the services of uninterrupted power supply all over the country. We assure that we will help them in securing its installations” the PNP chief said.

Bartolome said the PNP was obligated to secure any government facilities and installations, and the partnership with the NGCP would further boost its rapport with the community as well as with private corporations.

The agreement covers on-site and off-site facilities of NGCP that are deemed vital.

“For the past years, rogue Muslim separatist rebels, communist terrorists and other lawless elements had sabotaged through bombing Napocor (National Power Corp.) towers in an attempt to sabotage the power supply and as an act of extortion,” the PNP said.

“The government suffered the loss of millions of pesos every time power lines were sabotaged by these unscrupulous groups and individuals whom the NGCP saw as a threat to its services thus the need to tap the PNP as its partner in securing its installations,” it added.