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Wednesday, October 02, 2002
Police apologize for blunder in 'Sagada-Kalinga Gang' tag
THE Police Regional Office in the Cordilleras on Tuesday expressed its "humblest apologies over an inadvertent police blunder," after labeling the arrested hold-up suspects as members of the notorious 'Sagada-Kalinga Gang.'
Chief Supt. Victor Luga, PRO-CAR director, in an open letter to the Cordillerans, stressed that he "sincerely extend his apologies to the good people of Sagada, Mt. Province and Kalinga for that inadvertent police blunder."
"That mistake will never be repeated again, nor the people of the Cordillerans will ever be cast into any form of prejudice by the police institution under this public servant," the letter reads.
The PRO-CAR director noted that Cordillera is truly peaceful, competitive and taking its place among the union of progressive communities.
He claimed that while the authorities responsible for such media presentation of the suspects were well-meaning in their response to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's call on massive crackdown against organized crime groups, "the haste of the moment and technical lapses inadvertently resulted in such unfair tagging."
Luga, an Ilocano by birth but claimed to be Cordilleran by heart, being married to a native of Besao, stressed that Sagada and Kalinga are very familiar places to him, having served the two provinces for almost 10 of his 30 years in active service.
The PRO-CAR's sensitivity to this previous ethnic slur came after Cordillera officials expressed dismay over the use by the police and members of the media of the name of a popular tourist town and province in collectively identifying 12 robbery suspects who were collared recently after a series of atrocities conducted not only in the region but other neighboring areas as well.
It may be recalled that Sagada Mayor Thomas Killip and Kalinga Gov. Macario Duguiang both claimed that they were alarmed by headlines and front-page stories in the newspapers which identified these suspects as belonging to the 'Sagada-Kalinga hold-up gang.'
The political leaders pointed out that the label attached to the robbery group tends to stir a negative connotation to the rustic tourist town of Sagada, the province of Kalinga and their people.
They added that they were worried over the negative impact of the news on the status of Sagada and Kalinga as international tourist destinations and the impression created by it on the peace and order situation.
Sagada is host to the popular Sumaguing caves and hanging coffins, while Kalinga also hosts the mighty Chico River, a popular place for white water rafting. Harley Palangchao
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