Masbate City eyes PNP outposts in remote areas

By Ernesto Delgado

MASBATE CITY --- The city government is planning to put up police outposts in remote areas to protect the communities from communist guerillas and other criminals following a dialogue with far-flung villagers.

City Mayor Socrates Tuason said he would be coordinating with the Masbate City Police Station about sustaining police visibility in distant villages.

“We will sustain the police presence in villages outside the city proper by putting up police outposts in those outlying communities,” Tuason said in mixed English and city dialect.

Tuason disclosed this during an inter-agency meeting on Thursday as residents of geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas voiced their clamor for 24/7 police presence in their communities during a community solution-driven dialogue.

Tuason noted that the current setup in which majority of police personnel are posted only in the city proper allowed communist guerillas to lord it over the remote communities.

According to a listing prepared by the Department of Health, nearly all coastal villages in Masbate City are listed as GIDA, including Barangays B. Titong, Ubungan Dacu, Bolo, Cawayan Exterior, Bantigue, Batuhan, Pawa, and Anas, where Far Eastern University football player Kieth Absalon and his cousin, Nolven Absalon were killed when communist guerillas detonated a land mine on the roadside on June 6, 2021. (PIA5/ Masbate)