PNP told: Get rid of ‘time target’ rule

THE police should eliminate its so-called “time on target” policy to avoid future failures, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said yesterday.

Trillanes called the policy, which was blamed for the delayed deployment of reinforcement troops from the military in the Jan. 25 law enforcement operations in Maguindanao, as an “alien” concept.

He said the military, even the navy and the air force, is not using the principle in any of its operation.

“To be honest, it’s an alien concept to the Armed Forces. That’s why I will recommend that let’s do away with the time-on-target principle together,” Trillanes, a former Navy officer, said.

The time on target policy was revealed during the joint committee hearing of the Senate on the Mamasapano bloodbath weeks ago.

The head of the Special Action Force (SAF) said then-Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Alan Purisima “advised” him to adopt a time on target policy in informing the head of the police and military of the operation to arrest Malaysian terrorist Zulkifi Bin Hir, alias Marwan.

Trillanes said he would have been ready to respect the principle if only the operation did not result to the death of 44 SAF troopers after a clash with Moro Islamic Liberation Front and other Moro rebel groups.

“They (SAF troopers) were the best but the problem was they were not utilized as such. They were utilized as an infant resource. With that, the edge was loss,” he said. (Ruth Abbey Gita/Sunnex)