Rody to troops: Go for mobile checkpoints

President Duterte yesterday advised government troops to consider setting up with mobile checkpoints to minimize casualties from sniper attacks.

Duterte said soldiers guarding detachments are often targeted by enemy snipers who hide in buildings.

“We have to change so many ways especially how we handle the highways and streets, long stretches of roads in our country. It happened several times. The first that struck my mind was a detachment soldier fell dead. There was no attack but he just fell dead and then followed by another similar event,” the President said during the National Special Weapons and Tactics Challenge in Davao City last Thursday.

Duterte said soldiers in stationary checkpoints may have difficulty monitoring all moving vehicles.

“But you know, in a normal situation, for a day, many vehicles are passing by. You will get dizzy. The soldier could only give so much attention to one car,” the President said.

“Go for the mobile ones, in groups, in parallel, both sides of the highway. Or if you want, you can mount a machine gun over a ridge far enough. But be on guard because the enemy may be behind you,” he added.

Duterte said sniper attacks were perfected in the Middle East, where shooters hide in high rise buildings.

“They attack soldiers, policemen, even the CAFGU (militia men) and everyone manning the detachment and at a distance, they do not need to attack but they have acquired the skill also of sniping,” the President said.

“So it has come to a vogue that we need to change the doctrines immediately,” he added.

Sniper attacks posed a problem to government forces who fought with terrorists in Marawi last year. The Marawi siege, the longest urban warfare in the Philippines since World War II, prompted Duterte to place Mindanao under martial law.