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Volume IX Number 5, January 2002
WARNING: The forces you are going to encounter were formerly under the supervision
of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Counter Terrorist Force (ACT Force).
1. The Special Operations Command (Socom) of the Philippine Army (PA)
comprises three units, namely the Scout Rangers, Special Forces and the Psychological Operations (Psyops) unit. It can be
remembered that Socom was only launched this year in our country.
2. Afraid to travel by air due to the recent terrorist attacks? Well,
lower down your fears for the Philippine National Police Avation Security Command (Pascom) are doing their best for everyone’s
safety. They are the one responsible for security measures at major airports. Their duties were performed by the Philippine
Air Force Aviation Security Command (Avsecom). Their expertise are lined on counter-hijacking operations which is under the
responsibility of the Pascom. They are well equipped, trained and function in different aircraft counter-hijacking methods.
3. Can you spot any similarities between the Philippine Navy Special
Warfare Group and the US Navy Special Warfare Command? For one, they were taughtk, prepared and operate in the same manner. The PN
SEALS (actually called SWAGs) are even wearing a trident similar to their US Navy counterparts. It’s not a big surprise,
for their counterparts are the one who have trained them in their own image. On the other hand, the local counterpart of the
counterterrorism specialists SEAL Team Six (formally called Naval Special Warfare Development Group) in the country is the Special Reaction Group (SRG) which is operating directly
under Naval Intelligence.
4. Marines once bombarded the headlines because of their deployment. Well,
unknown to others, several members of the Philippines Marines have received training in Shipboarding and Naval CQB. No wonder
they operate in much the same way with the USMC Force Recon for which they have trained with.
5. The group under Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Leandro Mendoza
also have their own Special Action Force (SAF). However, they have a different recruitment and selection procedures, comparable
to the British Special Air Service (SAS). This is despite the fact that they were formed along the same line. The training
of the SAF came from the US FBI (particularly the Critical Incident Response Group), French RAID and the Israeli Ya’mam. It is the Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU)
of the PNP-SAF which is responsible for the nationwide police CT operations. In the meantime, the regions have particularly
equipped and skilled regional mobile forces (RMF) which used to be the light reaction units (LRU) in Metro Manila and the
Regional SAF (RSAF) in the provinces. It can be noticed that all the key cities of the nation have their own SWAT teams. (Please
see notes below for updates.)
6. Of course, you are aware of the Presidential Security Group (PSG).
They are the one protecting the security of our president. They are the equivalent of the US Secret Service “Cat Squad” (Counter-Assault Team) in our country. It is actually
a composite military command with police units attached to it.
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