MANILA – The Philippine National Police (PNP) assured the government is in full control of its security situation after the US state department named the Philippines as one of the countries with high kidnapping risk.
PNP chief General Oscar Albayalde said it is the obligation of any state to warn its citizens of all kinds of danger in any part of the world, especially if the security assessment is valid.
“We cannot blame them. They are just doing their job of protecting their citizens. We will certainly do the same thing,” said Albayalde.
While it is true there are kidnapping incidents especially in Mindanao, mostly perpetrated by the Abu Sayyaf group and its affiliate local syndicates, “there are only certain portions or parts in Mindanao that are quite critical because of the presence of some threat groups,” the PNP chief stressed.
For his part, department of the interior and local government secretary Eduardo Año said kidnapping cases in the country have been in a downward trend in recent years because of the government’s relentless and proactive stance in its peace and order program.
“A list is just a list. What we have are factual data pointing to the decreasing number of kidnapping cases in the Philippines. That’s what we are banking on,” said Año.
“We do not know yet how they came up with the list but with the strong stance of President Rodrigo Duterte against criminality in general, we see no basis for including us in this list. We will request from the US embassy what were the parameters used since even Malaysia and Russia were included,” he added.
According to the PNP, there were only 68 cases of kidnapping in the country in 2018, majority of which in Mindanao, 11 cases lower than in 2017. As of this writing, there are only 10 cases of kidnapping for 2019.
PNP Spokesman, Col. Bernard Banac said “there is a decreasing trend of kidnapping cases due the relentless anti-terrorism and anti-criminality campaign of the government.”
“The peace and order in the country is under our control because of the intensified security measures we are implementing,” he added.
Mindanao, for instance, is currently under martial law while all police forces across the country are on alert for the midterm elections next month.
The DILG chief said the declaration of martial law in Mindanao has made it safer for visitors.
“While personal precaution is necessary, martial law allowed the Philippine government to deploy more security forces to Mindanao to ensure the safety of the people and foreign guests,” he said.
The inauguration of the Bangsamoro autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao marks another milestone in the government’s drive for lasting peace and order in Mindanao “where kidnapping cannot foster and security and development will be a priority,” he added.
The US state department has named the Philippines among 35 countries, together with Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and even Malaysia and Russia with high kidnapping risk advising Americans to take extra caution when travelling in these countries. (With a report from PNA/PN)
