THE City Peace and Order Council (CPOC), on instruction of Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar, convened on Wednesday, July 11, 2018 in a special meeting and tackled issues related to the series of shooting incidents in the city.
At the same time, the CPOC also discussed possible counter measures to contain the shooting incidents.
Vice Mayor Cesar Iturralde, the acting city mayor, presided the meeting and called for improved police visibility and urged Task Force Zamboanga and the police to closely collaborate in the implementation of renewed security measures.
Iturralde said the police should do something to improve police visibility to deter the commission of crimes.
“There is no justification for the killing of any resident in the city because we cannot afford to have our residents take the law into their own hands,” he said
Senior Superintendent Alan Nazarro, Zamboanga City police officer-in-charge, said the six shooting incidents recorded from July 1 to 11 happened in different villages with different motives and are considered isolated cases.
Nazarro said that two of the six incidents are considered solved with the arrest of the suspects.
He added that the investigators have obtained positive leads and arrests of suspects in the other incidents are expected anytime.
As a result of the incidents, Nazarro has directed the police stations concerned to exhaust all means to solve the cases as well as instructed the conduct of 24/7 checkpoints, strong police presence and cross matching of recovered items at the crime scene with previous incidents.
A town vice mayor in Tawi-Tawi was gunned down after the CPOC, which convened on Wednesday afternoon, concluded its meeting. (SunStar Philippines)