Cebu City Police Office entrance gate. | Emmariel Ares
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Recent shooting cases in Cebu City should not worry the public or cause them to panic.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Janette Rafter, deputy director for operations of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said this because these shootings were not “indiscriminate shootings.”
These were shooting cases where shooters were targeting the victims and not anyone else.
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Shootings from October 16 to 18
Rafter was asked about these shooting cases especially since three separate shootings happened in three days in Cebu City.
These happened from October 16 (Monday) to October 18 (Wednesday.)
It can be recalled that a 64-year-old man was wounded and was brought to the hospital after his neighbor allegedly shot him while they were fighting in Barangay Basak-San Nicolas on Monday.
On Tuesday evening, a 34-year-old driver of an e-bike was killed after he was allegedly shot by an assailant while walking along an alley in Sitio Ipil-Ipil Alaska in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City.
Just a day later on Wednesday, a parking attendant was shot dead by a still unidentified assailant while he was working in front of an eatery in Katipunan Street in Barangay Labangon.
READ: Cebu City shooting: E-bike driver killed, police after persons-of-interest
Shootings: Unfortunate but not done at random
According to Rafter, these incidents were indeed unfortunate but they would not be a cause of alarm because most of them were not done at random.
“Sa among assesment, although medyo dili gyud siya maayo, but among gipasalig sa atong mga katawhan nga kini nga mga shooting is not indiscriminate or bisan kinsa na lang,” she said.
(In our assessment, although they are not good, but we assure the public that these shootings were not indiscriminate or (the shooter or assailant) would just shoot anybody.)
READ: Parking attendant killed in Cebu City shooting
Related to previous crimes
Rafter said that they believed that majority of the recent shootings were related to other previous crime incidents.
“Based on our initial information, which is we are going to validate pa (we are still going to validate), both victims and the suspects are in one way or another involved once sa mga illegal na mga aktibidades (in illegal activities),” she said.
“So mao na ang atong gitan-aw karon kung kini ba nga mga nahitabo sa mga biktima is in relation to that mga previous nila nga mga illegal nga activities,” said Rafter.
(So that is what we are looking into now if what happened to the victim is in relation to the that that there previous illegal activities.)
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Personal grudge, too
However, Rafter clarified that there were also some cases that were committed by suspects due to personal grudge.
As an example, she mentioned the case of the 23-year-old woman who allegedly shot her friend because she believed that he was covering up her boyfriend’s affair with another woman.
The incident took place in Sitio Lower Sto. Nino Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City at around 2:50 p.m. on Wednesday, October 18.
Police personnel in Cebu City will continue to conduct follow-up investigations and intelligence gathering to determine the reasons behind all of these shooting cases, said Rafter.
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She said that they would also be seeking the help of the residents of these areas where the crimes took place to provide information that could help in their investigation.
“Kani atong mga shooting incidents diri sa syudad sa Sugbo hilabi na katong sa mga niaging adlaw, ato gyud na karong gipahigayonan og lalom gyud nga imbestigasyon,” the police official said.
(This shooting incidents here in Cebu City especially those in the recent day, we are really conducting a deep investigation on them.)
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Strategic deployment of cops in PRO-7
Meanwhile, the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas, will be implementing a strategic deployment of uniformed personnel in order to stop these incidents from happening.
This was according to Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare, spokesperson of the director of the Police Regional Office Central Visayas (PRO-7).
To counter the shooting cases, Pelare said that the instruction of the regional director was to make sure that police personnel would be deployed strategically.
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Remain aggressive, more patrols in the barangays
“Magpabalin ta nga mag-agresibo, maoy instruction sa atong regional director. Dayon ang atong mga kapulisan, mag-roving, mag-patrol, mag-adto sa mga barangay para mawala ning opportunity aning mga criminals nga moconduct sa ilang krimen,” he said.
(Let us remain to be aggressive, that is the instruction of our regional director. Then our polcemen, they should go roving, patrol, go to the barangays so that criminals will lose the opportunity to commit a crime.)
Pelare said that Aberin also instructed the police to conduct deeper investigations on the shootings in Central Visayas.
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Police assets targeted
According to Pelare, they will also be verifying some information they received that some incidents happened because of some drug personalities chasing after persons they believed to be police assets.
He said that because of the relentless operation of police in the region, they already arrested a significant number of suspects that could be responsible for these previous crimes.
“Naay daghan pud tang nadakpan nga mga suspected gun-for-hire personalities. And they are being charged now. Naimbestigahan na pud. Unya possible nga kining mga nadakpan, mao sad ni gabuhat sa previous shooting incidents,” stated Pelare.
(We have arrested many suspected gun-for-hire personalities. And they are being charged now. We have also already investigated them. And it is possible that these arrested persons, they are also the ones who did these previous shootings.)