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Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Cebu City murder cases doubled in '05
By Jovy S. Taghoy
CEBU CITY -- Murder cases in Cebu City registered a dramatic increase in 2005, with almost double the numbers recorded in 2004.
A decrease by more than 300 robbery cases, however, was noted by the police last year.
Unsolved vigilante-style killings made up most of the 171 murders recorded in the city last year-up by 81 cases from the 2004 figure.
Acting Cebu City Police Chief Melvin Gayotin said vigilante-style killings are "beyond our control," but that police investigators are trying their best to unmask the gunmen and throw them in jail.
Murder ranked fourth in the list of common index crimes, which includes crimes against persons and properties such as murder, homicide, physical injuries, rape, theft and robbery.
Theft remained the most common crime in 2005, with 1,971 cases, or an increase of 75 cases from the 1,896 incidents recorded in 2004.
Physical injuries also increased, with 810 from only 559 cases in 2004.
Gayotin admitted that the rising number of vigilante-style killings worries him.
He explained, though, that police investigators have their limits and solving the killings is only one among the many concerns they are facing.
Overall, crime solution efficiency dropped in 2005, at 63.74 percent, compared to 66.49 percent in 2004.
A total of 5,435 crimes were reported last year, or 417 cases less than the 5,852 crimes reported in 2004.
Police solved 48.59 percent of all reported index crimes, a slight drop from their efficiency rating of 49.25 percent in 2004.
That means, however, that police managed to solve less than half of all index crimes reported during the past two years.
Gayotin, however, took heart from the recorded decrease in robbery cases. He attributed the drop to the arrests of suspected robbery gang leaders like Rey Torres and Danilo Limotan.
Suspected robbery gang leader Joel "Tongol" Nodalo, on the other hand, died in an attack in Bohol last year.
The vigilante-style killings, Gayotin said, may have also contributed to the decrease, because some of the victims were suspected robbers. (Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex)
(January 4, 2006 issue)
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