31 Oct Duterte: “I am ordering all checkpoints dismantled”
Image Source | Philstar
Following the gunfight between the police and Datu Saudi Ampatuan town Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom in Maguindanao province and his men in a security checkpoint situated in Makilala, North Cotabato province, President Rodrigo Duterte gave the order to dismantle all checkpoints, which according to him, only cause public inconvenience, especially in Mindanao.
During his visit in Cotabato City last October 29, 2016, Saturday, he then cited that from thereon, the police would only conduct checkpoints “only if it is necessary, only if there is specific reason to do it.”
“I am ordering all checkpoints dismantled,” said Duterte. “And that is for the entire country. I do not want these checkpoints.”
After the launching of his Comprehensive Reform and Development Agenda for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Duterte then noted how police and military checkpoints had hampered travel in the southern part of the Philippines.
He also lamented that even rebel groups, the communist New People’s Army, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and the Moro Islamic Liberation front (MILF) had put up their own security blockades in their controlled areas.
“If there’s a suspect or you know there’s a probability or A1 information, (then you can set up a checkpoint),” said Duterte. “But if you’re not sure, then don’t do it.”
Duterte then left a comment addressed to the rebel groups saying, “To the MILF, if you don’t have any purpose, don’t use checkpoints. It’s also the same with the MNLF… It only brings problems to the Filipinos.”
Source: INQUIRER.Net
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