Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr. on Thursday assured that the government was doing every effort to keep the public safe and urged the people to do their share by staying vigilant.
“While we are seriously concerned about the bombing, which definitely by design or not is terrifying, the Philippine National Police together with other agencies concerned like the intelligence community and the Armed Forces of the Philippines are already on top of the situation as they have been in the past,” Ochoa said.
“Rest assured that these will be resolved with reasonable dispatch and expediency. No cause for panic. Our citizens should be more vigilant though in assisting in every way the government in these efforts,” Ochoa added.
Ochoa said the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC), which he chairs, had been updating policies since the Aquino Administration took over last year to better address the current terror threats, as well as the historical facts that prompted these activities.
The Executive Secretary also disclosed that he had started the reorganization and reengineering of ATC offices to conform to a program-based approach and enhance the performance of the agency’s mandate under the Human Security Act.
Under the new setup, ATC will be managed by a program management center headed by an executive director, whose primary task is to focus on “enhanced intelligence fusion, target hardening and consequence management,” Ochoa said.
The council will have a lean structure and will be composed of key program offices, where specific government agencies shall coordinate all government efforts in the war against terror, he said. ###
