CEBU CITY, Philippines — More police presence in the streets through discipline zones and random checkpoints.
Police Brigadier General Ronnie Montejo, Police Regional Office in Central Visayas director, said these were among the actions taken to deter shooting incidents from happening in Cebu City and the province.
Montejo was referring to the six people gunned down in two days in Cebu City and Cebu Province.
Three of those shooting incidents happened in a span of 14 hours in Cebu City while the other three in Cebu Province on May 28 and 29.
These included the killing of former priest and negotiator of National Democratic Front Rustico Tan, who was shot dead in his house while sleeping in his hammock in Pilar town, Camotes Island in northern Cebu.
Montejo said that he already instructed provincial and city directors to coordinate and implement the discipline zones in their areas of jurisdiction.
He said that discipline zones would include community involvement because police and force multipliers such as barangay tanods would be working hand in hand to secure a certain area for 24 hours.
He said these zones would be effective in monitoring suspicious persons in an area and for quick response of policemen, when a crime would happen in the zones they would be manning.
Montejo said that the discipline zones and the checkpoints were among the actions included in the Enhanced Managing Police Operations (EMPO) implemented by the police stations in the cities and province.
He also said that he would not put a timeframe in the investigation of the killings, but he would want investigators to solve the case with accuracy on catching the suspects and the motives behind these incidents.
“Pwede man ta muhatag (timeframe) pero dili ko ingon-ana na muhatag og time frame kay basin hangtod na lang hinuon nga maghimo og kanang taphaw nga (results) aron ma comply ang timeframe. Ang akong gusto nga kanang pulido nga trabaho ug kanang tinuod gyud nga suspect ang mogawas,” he added.
(We can set a timeframe but I will not give them a timeframe because this might result in a hasty and shallow investigation just to comply with the timeframe. What I want is a thorough investigation, one where the real suspect is caught.)
He said that these actions were included in their EMPO, which were implemented by the different police stations in the region.
“Padayon ang atong Enhanced Managing Police Operations (EMPO) nga traditional ug mga innovative depende sa peculiarity sa kanya-kanyang mga stations og lugar,” he said.
(Our Enhanced Managing Police Operations will continue whether it would be a traditional or innovative approach would depend on the peculiarity of each station of the area.)
EMPO is an approach sustained by the Philippine National Police in strengthening their anti-criminality campaign, reducing prevalent crimes, and improving public safety nationwide.
Aside from that, Montejo also called on the public especially those, who witnessed any of these shooting incidents to come forward and help them in their investigation to arrest the still unidentified assailants.
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