Azurin orders threat assessment on elected, appointed officials after 3rd attack on local execs
Gen. Rodolfo Azurin, Jr., chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), has ordered all police commanders to conduct threat assessment on all elected and appointed officials in their respective areas of responsibility.
The order came after the mayor of Datu Montawal, Maguindanao del Sur, Ohto Caumbo Montawal, was shot and wounded in an ambush along the service road of Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City on Wednesday night.
The attack on Montawal was the third this month—the first was the Feb. 17 ambush on Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. near the boundary of Lanao del Sur and Bukidnon which led to the death of his four security officers, and the ambush on Aparri, Cagayan Vice Mayor Rommel Alameda in Nueva Vizcaya on Feb. 19 that killed him and five other people.
“My marching order is to start conducting threat assessments on all elected as well as appointed public officials in their respective areas so that we would know the current state of their security,” said Azurin.
In doing so, he said the PNP would be able to implement some intervention measures that include additional deployment of security personnel.
Another measure, according to him, is providing additional security if the elected or appointed officials are under threat in areas where they would go to.
“We wanted to achieve zero crime on our elected and appointed officials. That's why we are trying to determine if there is a pattern or if these three attacks are incidental. That’s what we are looking into right now,” said Azurin.
In the case of Montawal, he said an investigation is still being conducted to determine the motive.
In the case of Alameda, the PNP earlier said they have already identified the owner of the getaway car that was used by the gunmen.
Azurin also reported that a son of one of the principal suspects in the Adiong ambush was killed in a follow-up operation in Lanao del Sur.