200 joint task force personnel deployed to 5 Metro Manila police districts

MANILA – An initial 200 officers and enlisted personnel of the military’s Joint Task Force-National Capital Region (JTF-NCR) were deployed to five Metro Manila police districts to help in the ongoing checkpoint and visibility patrols.

This was disclosed by JTF-NCR deputy commander Col. Vic Tomas in an interview Friday.

The JTF-NCR contingent consists of Army, Air Force and Navy personnel along with K-9 and bomb disposal units.

Tomas said they also have a stand-by force to help the police in possible contingencies.

“We would like to inform everybody that they should feel safe with the presence of both police and military. They have nothing to fear as this is not martial law,” he added.

Tomas said the deployment of JTF-NCR personnel to the five police districts in Metro Manila started Monday, two days after the Davao City blast which killed 14 people and wounded 70 others.

Following the attack, President Rodrigo Duterte declared a “state of national emergency on account of lawless violence in Mindanao,” authorizing the military to help the police in its peacekeeping and anti-terror operations.

“The guidance is of course to follow and strictly, observe human rights, rules of law and the procedures in the conduct of checkpoint,” Tomas added.