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BOC Cebu with other agencies signed a MOA creating the One Cebu–Inter-Agency Interdiction Task Force
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The task force is the Cebu provincial government’s unified initiative to fight illegal drugs, smuggling, human trafficking and terrorism
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OC-IAITF members will support the task force through law enforcement operations, detail of personnel, and exchange of relevant information
The Bureau of Customs Port of Cebu recently signed, together with other agencies, a memorandum of agreement creating the One Cebu–Inter-Agency Interdiction Task Force (OC-IAITF), the Cebu provincial government’s unified initiative to fight illegal drugs, smuggling, human trafficking and terrorism.
Headed by Cebu province and overseen by Cebu governor Gwendolyn Garcia, OC-IAITF comprises 15 enforcement agencies and non-government organizations, with two groups monitoring the airport and seaports. They include the Philippine National Police, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Central Visayas, National Bureau of Investigation, Armed Forces of the Philippines Visayas Command, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency Central Visayas, Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA), Philippine Coast Guard Visayas, Cebu Port Authority (CPA), Maritime Industry Authority Central Visayas, Bureau of Customs, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, Bureau of Immigration Cebu and Integrated Bar of the Philippines Cebu City and Cebu Province chapters.
PDEA 7 Director Levi Ortiz will serve as task force commander while Police Regional Office Central Visayas Director Roderick Augustus Alba will be the deputy task force commander. The airport task force will be headed by MCIAA general manager Julius Neri, Jr and the seaport task force by CPA general manager Glenn Castillo.
Each member-agency will work closely with the task force by providing support through law enforcement operations, detail of personnel, and timely exchange of relevant information, according to the MOA signed on December 7.
For its part, the Port of Cebu said it is committed to immediately acting on derogatory information forwarded by OC-IAITF on international packages and cargoes, and conducting joint physical examination through the task force.
“I commend Governor Gwendolyn Garcia’s earnest efforts to form a task force, inviting us concerned agencies to sit down and together, make concerted actions to address and bring down these high crimes,” BOC-Cebu District Collector Elvira Cruz said in a statement.
“It takes the whole community to fight the unscrupulous individuals and their networks if we want to stop them,” she added.
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