A LAWMAKER has filed a bill seeking to restore the Philippine Constabulary, with the elite Special Action Force as the first batch of officers, concentrate on suppressing domestic security threats, particularly terrorism and insurgency.
In filing House Bill 3768, Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel asked President Rodrigo Duterte to certify the bill which proposes to bring back the PC by revising the 1990 law that created the Philippine National Police and the 1998 statute that gave the Armed Forces of the Philippines primary jurisdiction over internal security.
“Considering it was the President himself who first broached the renewal of the PC, we’re asking him to certify our bill as urgent. But that is really up to the President, whether or not he certifies the measure,” said Pimentel, a member of the House committee on national defense and security.
Pimentel stressed the need for Congress to reinstate the PC.
“With the President’s resolve to chart a truly independent foreign policy, it has become absolutely imperative for Congress to release the AFP from its duties in maintaining internal security,” Pimentel said.
The AFP’s three existing service commands – the Army, Navy and the Air Force – should now concentrate entirely on preparing to defend the national sovereignty and territory against external threats, the lawmaker said.
Pimentel’s proposal provides the new PC would have jurisdiction in civil law enforcement, and its pioneers would be the SAF, the national mobile unit of the PNP patterned after the renowned Special Air Service of the British Army.
“The SAF troopers are in the best position to spearhead the new PC. They‘ve undergone extensive military type training in counter-terrorism, unconventional warfare, critical incident response, hostage crisis and rescue as well as anti-hijacking operations, and in offensive take-over raids against targets in civilian areas,” Pimentel said.
“Actually our SAF now used to be the PC Special Action Force,” Pimentel said.
Former President Fidel Ramos founded the PC Special Action Force in 1983, when he was then chief of the now defunct PC.
The PC was merged with the Integrated National Police to form the PNP in 1991.
Duterte first mentioned the revival of the PC shortly after the Sept. 2 bombings in Davao City that claimed the lives of 15 people and left 70 others wounded.
He said the PC may be needed to help fight urban terrorism, which he called the next big threat the country faces, and drug trafficking.