EXECUTIVE Secretary Ralph Recto pushed for tighter, faster and more unified government action against organized crime in his recent recalibration meeting with the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (Paocc). Those in attendance were National Security Adviser Eduardo Año; Paocc Executive Director Benjamin Acorda Jr.; Undersecretary Facundo Palafox of the Office of the Executive Secretary; and top representatives from the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of National Defense, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Justice, and National Bureau of Investigation. The Office of the Executive Secretary serves as the body’s chairman. “Our job is not only to chase criminals after damage is done, but to shut the doors before they enter. To seal the gaps, enforce discipline, realign priorities, and demand measurable results,” Recto said in a statement following their meeting last Feb. 9. He reiterated President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive for the Paocc to intensify efforts to protect citizens from sophisticated criminal networks and ensure peace and order through faster, tighter and more unified government action. The officials reviewed the Serious and Organized Crime Threat Assessment 2022–2024, a vital intelligence document that maps the scale and evolution of organized criminal threats in the country as outlined under the Paocc’s Crime Action Plan. Created in 2000, the Paocc serves as the government’s lead agency in the fight against organized and transnational crime, bringing together intelligence, defense, law enforcement and justice agencies to ensure synchronized operations and prosecutions. Its tasks include the preparation and implementation of an anti-crime and anti-graft and corruption plan and program and the conduct of intelligence and counterintelligence operations to identify government officials and employees, crime syndicates and their cohorts who are involved in criminal activities, among others.