DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio ordered the security stakeholders here to provide a much better security plan following the recent attacks of the New People’s Army in the facilities of Lapanday Foods Corporation (LFC) in Mandug and Calinan on Saturday.
Duterte-Carpio, during an interview on Sunday, April 30, after a brief tour inside the visiting warships from China in Sasa Wharf, said she ordered security forces to craft a better plan for the city’s security.
“I asked them to give me something new because clearly, what we have is not enough so we need to do more,” she said.
She said that authorities already made an assessment on the incident.
Davao City Police Office Director Alexander Tagum, in a media interview on Sunday, said that they are planning for future contingencies after their assessment of the NPA attacks in the box plant and ranch of LFC.
“We will have to strengthen out perimeter security of Davao City and strengthen the defense of the industrial complex based in Davao City,” he said.
He also added that they discussed augmentation of forces with the Philippine Army.
Tagum said they regarded the group as criminals and they are now planning to file cases against them.
Tagum said based on the gathered information, the total damage of LFC facilities would reached more than P500 million.
Duterte-Carpio said a meeting with Lapanday executives was set Sunday evening.
“A meeting with Lapanday will be conducted... We will know from their end what happened and what they want to do,” she added.
Duterte-Carpio said the NPA group is not fair to the private company because she thinks that violence should not be a resort to resolve issues.
“In all corporations, companies, and organization, there will always be a problem but violence is not an option. What they did is still wrong even though naay problema ang kompanya sa ganoon, dapat pinaguusapan hindi sinusunog ang mga gamit at pinapatay ang mga tao (If there is a problem with the company, it should not be handled that way, not through burning things and through killing people),” she said.
Duterte-Carpio said that the hospitalization expense of the injured fish vendor is being shouldered by the city.
She, however, said the local government of Davao is still open for local peace talks yet it will depend on the NPAs.
“We believe that the discussion and talks will be the solution but really it depends on the members of the New People’s Army. We are always open but because of what happened we support operations against them,” she said.
“There will be no pause in operations in Davao City. In fact, palalakasin pa ang ginagawa ng kapulisan at kasundaluhan,” she said.