20 private armed groups dismantled for peaceful polls – PNP

PNP Headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City. (Photo from the PNP Facebook page)

MANILA, Philippines — Around 20 private armed groups have been dismantled and delisted by different government agencies, according to Col. Jean Fajardo, spokesperson of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Most of the groups are in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Fajardo said in an interview over AM radio DZBB on Tuesday.

In a message to INQUIRER.net, Fajardo clarified among the dismantled groups were 14 taken down by the National Task Force for the Disbandment of Private Armed Groups (NTS-DPAGs), which Interior Secretary Eduardo Año announced last Dec. 12.

She added that not all of the groups worked for politicians, most of them being “local terrorist groups” that moonlight for politicians during elections.

According to Fajardo, this is also the reason why the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines have been working hard to rid the country of such groups — because turn into gun-for-hire groups during elections.

Early on in his term, the PNP chief, Gen. Dionardo Carlos, mentioned that the police force was monitoring six private armed groups (PAGs) that might pose a threat to the May 2022 general elections — out of the 138 groups that may become PAGs.

Año said back in December that there was a need to sustain the campaign against PAGs to ensure that elections would be clean and fair.

While past elections in the country have been generally peaceful, the Philippines has a long history of election-related violence.

In 2009, the single-largest killing of journalists in the world happened during election season, when a convoy of media personalities and female supporters of Maguindanao Second District Rep. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu were ambushed by armed men in 2009.

Mangudadatu was then seeking the gubernatorial seat of Maguindanao, challenging the Ampatuans’ grip on the province.

Members of the Ampatuan clan, including former Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., were convicted in December 2019 for the incident.

As early as September 2021, there were reports of attacks believed to be related to the elections, including a grenade-throwing incident at the ancestral home of Cagayan de Oro Second District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez.

No one was harmed as the grenade did not explode.

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ATM