PNP says 20 private armed groups disbanded or dismantled
Around 20 private armed groups (PAGs) were "either disbanded, dismantled and delisted" in the government's list, a police official said on Tuesday.
"More or less 20 active PAGs were either disbanded, dismantled or nadelisted or mostly like the three groups that were recently delisted, most of them have surrendered," Col. Jean Fajardo, Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson said in a radio interview.
"Some of those are dormant, inactive for past years. That is why recommendation was made to delist them," she said.
"As of today, we are just waiting for the three active PAGs to be officially delisted and we are just waiting for the official resolution coming from the NTF on Disbandment of PAGs," she added.
Fajardo said most PAGs are members of the "local terrorist groups" who work for politicians during elections.
"During this election period, they were being used for the election. That is why before this year started we already conducted focused police and military operations under the NTF on the Disbandment of PAGs," she said.
Fajardo said so far the PNP "have not monitored any credible threat" to disrupt the upcoming election.
"But nonetheless we will not let our guard down. That is why we continue the intelligence monitoring and gathering in coordination with the AFP counterparts and other law enforcement agencies so that no one would slip us by if there is any threat," she said. Robina Asido/DMS
