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Thursday, September 11, 2003
Tacurong residents march v. terror attacks
By Edwin G. Espejo
TACURONG CITY -- Close to 7,000 individuals joined a protest rally Wednesday morning to denounce the spate of terrorist attacks in the city.
The rally, organized by the Multi-Sectoral Council, was held at the city plaza and was also attended by City Government officials led by Mayor Lino Montilla.
The protest rally came a week after 10 heavily armed men attacked the warehouse of Roberto Ang, a wealthy businessman from this city.
Two policemen and three others were killed in the ensuing encounters between the gunmen and Ang's bodyguards and law enforcers manning a roadblock.
Montilla said they would hold a multi-sectoral summit to evaluate where local government and law enforcement agencies failed in preventing terrorist attacks in the city.
"We will hold a seminar-workshop to assess were we failed and why terrorists were able to slip into the city and launch their attacks," Montilla told reporters.
Montilla also confirmed he already asked for an augmentation of police and military forces in the city to deter further terrorist attacks.
In February last year, a bomb exploded just outside a bank in the city's downtown area leaving three persons injured.
On New Year's Eve, a powerful explosion rocked the city's main plaza where eight people were killed and at least 35 others were wounded.
Jose Lim V, who represented the Tacurong City Chamber of Commerce, said Wednesday's rally was the residents' way of saying they are fed up with criminality in the city.
"We want the people to know that we are against all forms of criminality and show that we are united," Lim said.
He also asked the police and military here to double their effort in apprehending the perpetrators of the series of attacks in the city.
But Lim refused to put the blame on the police and military, which some residents here said failed in their job of ensuring the safety of residents in the city.
"We are not blaming anybody here," he said.
He also declined to point to any group who could be behind the atrocities here.
The rally, which was also attended by students and members of the religious community, was the first of its kind in the city.
Most of the city's commercial establishments closed down Wednesday, including banks, department stores and gasoline stations.
The City Government declared Wednesday a local holiday in Tacurong City in support of the rally.
Meanwhile, Supt. Bonfilo Dacoco said they had not made any arrest in connection with the September 1 attack at the compound of Ang, who was reportedly targeted for kidnapping by the heavily armed men.
He, however, believed some of the attackers were slain during the shootout with policemen whom the suspects encountered in a roadblock in Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat while on their way to escape.
(September 11, 2003 issue) |
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