BACOLOD City Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran said Wednesday a resolution, authored by Councilor Em Ang, was approved seeking to convene the City Council as a “committee of the whole” to discuss the rising robbery hold-up incidents.
Familiaran said they will convene next week with Mayor Evelio Leonardia, and Senior Superintendent Jack Wanky, acting director of Bacolod City Police Office, with the 10 police station chiefs.
They will be joined by officials of Department of the Interior and Local Government and National Bureau of Investigation as well as the 61 village chiefs.
The committee hearing will be presided by Familiaran.
Familiaran said they will discuss the series of robbery hold-ups, snatching, motornapping, and theft incidents in Bacolod in aid of legislation.
He said drug pushers in Bacolod have shifted their livelihood from selling of illegal drugs into snatching.
Familiaran noted that because of the scarcity of illegal drugs, most drug pushers went into other illegal activities like snatching and robbery.
“I believe thousands of drug suspects are now engaged in illegal activities such as robbery hold-up, snatching, akyat bahay, and motornapping because of poverty,” the vice mayor said.
Councilor Caesar Distrito said it will be the first time that the City Council will be converted into a “committee of the whole.”
He said Ang authored the resolution upon the advice of Familiaran because it is the high time that the City Council would assume the function of the single committee and converted itself as a “committee of whole.”
“We will call for a committee hearing and will draft a proposal on how we could stop the series of robbery hold-ups, snatching, and akyat-bahay incidents because we believe that this one requires the solution of the entire population or cooperation of the agency,” Distrito said.
He said the “committee of the whole” is a symbolic gesture because solving the problem on peace and order is not the responsibility of the government alone, but of the entire population.
“We should cooperate and help each other to solve these problems,” Distrito added.