Central Luzon cops on full alert for transport strike, Asean meet

CAMP OLIVAS, PAMPANGA—More than 11,000 policemen in Central Luzon have been placed on full alert startcing noon on Friday to respond to a region-wide transport strike on Monday and Tuesday and the 11th Assoiation of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) on Oct. 24 and 25 in Clark Freeport.

A full alert status requires all units to “strengthen target hardening on all vital installations, economic key points as well as places of convergence,” said Chief Supt. Amador Corpus, regional police director.

Readiness vs terror

The police have also been directed to “ensure a high state of operational readiness to thwart any hostile action that may be launched by terror groups,” he said.

Corpus said police personnel would also be deployed to ADMM venues starting Oct. 18.

Police and military units involved in Task Group Clark concluded last week a two-day contingency planning that tested security preparations, operational readiness and resource adequacy for the ADMM.

No classes in Davao

The transport group Piston announced a strike on Oct. 16 and 17 to demonstrate against what it called a “jeepney phaseout” and the impending “monopoly corporatization of public transport.”
In Davao City, Mayor Sara Duterte on Friday announced the suspension of classes in all levels in the city on Monday in response to the strike.

In a statement, Duterte said the city government would deploy buses to ferry stranded commuters.

While the local government respected the right of jeepney drivers to go on strike, the mayor urged protesters to “practice self-restraint in their actions.”

“Meanwhile, we remind the public that crimes committed during the strike will not be tolerated,” Duterte said. —TONETTE OREJAS AND FRINSTON LIM