You can't hide from trail-ready Zamboanga PNP

Zamboanga PNP trains cops for mountain trails

Fighting crime has never been easy for our brave policemen and women. Besides keeping order in urban areas, these days, their call of duty even extends to the far side of the mountains. It's sometimes done with the needed support from the military.

Realizing the big potential of riding dirt bikes to improve their capability, officers from the PNP Police Regional Office 9 have recently completed the Police Mounted Trail Riding Course. This is aimed at enhancing the mobility assets of the PNP to reach more remote areas in the region.

This training is also seen as a way to provide better service to the community in the mountainous regions, by responding faster and more capably than ever before.

The course teaches 35 participants mountain trail riding, that often involves rough terrain, steep climbs, and river crossings — exactly the kinds of conditions that conventional police vehicles can't handle.

Police Brigadier General, Jesus D Cambay Jr., led the proceedings and has said that where habal-habals can reach, so can the police.

“Kung ano yung ma-reach ng habal-habal, dapat ma-reach [din] ng police (wherever place a habal-habal could reach, the police should also do the same)” said Police Brigadier General, Jesus D Cambay Jr.

A habal-habal is a motorcycle commonly found in the remote regions of the country. It is often the primary mode of transportation for locals coming from the main highway all the way to the far side of the mountains.

Their training was so tough, PBrig. Gen. Cambay joked that the team even went beyond the places where habal-habals could go.