2 SAF teams augment for Masskara

TWO teams of Special Action Force (SAF) based in Sagay City, Negros Occidental augmented the security force for the Masskara Festival in Bacolod City this month.

Chief Inspector Sherlock Gabana, public information officer of Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO), said the two teams are composed of eight members each.

He said the 16 SAF policemen arrived in the city on Tuesday, October 9.

The said elite forces were deployed since last night at the three festival sites - public plaza, Lacson Tourism Strip, and the Government Center to also augment the Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) teams.

Every event area needs to have Swat members for a more intensified security, Gabana said.

More SAF personnel will be added for patrol visibility outside the city as the festivity approaches the highlight week, Gabana said.

Meanwhile, Gabana also said that 69 contingents were added to the existing 105 members of the Civil Disturbance Management (CDM) team that will be dispatched on rallies during the possible visit of President Rodrigo Duterte on the highlight week of the festivity.

The members of the CDM team were among the 665 augmentation forces who arrived in the city from PRO-6 in Iloilo City for the festival’s security.

The CDM team has now four platoons which are also equivalent to two companies.

Currently, the team is composed of 169 non-commissioned officers from PRO-6, four commissioned officers from Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo), and one from BCPO, team leader Senior Inspector Elmer Bonilla.

Since the opening of the Masskara celebration, more than 1,500 policemen, force multipliers, and military were deployed in the streets of Bacolod.

A 100 percent deployment will be during the highlight week of the festival from October 24 to 28./GYM