POLICE Regional Office (PRO)-Western Visayas Director Flynn Dongbo ordered the local police to conduct a thorough investigation on the series of shooting incidents in Bacolod City.
Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Solis, spokesperson of PRO-Western Visayas, told SunStar Bacolod Saturday, June 18, that the top police official in the region has likewise ordered the arrest of the perpetrators and the filing of airtight cases against them.
To deter more shooting incidents from transpiring, Solis said Dongbo wanted the police visibility maximized especially in strategic areas.
For this month alone, eight shooting incidents took place in this highly urbanized city, claiming the lives of six victims.
Shortly after midnight Sunday, June 19, construction worker Richard Jimenez, 30 of the city's Barangay 26, was injured when Police Master Sergeant Jeff Desucatan, of Barangay Alijis, shot him on the leg.
Jorem Sibug, 24, of Barangay 27, who was just passing by, was also hit by a stray bullet.
Meanwhile, the latest fatality in the series of shooting incidents was barker Bryan Garrido, a temporary resident of Barangay 3, who was shot inside a computer shop past 6 p.m. Friday, June 17.
A night before that, Adonis Matulac, 54 of the city's Barangay Singcang Airport, who is also a barker, was shot and killed along Lacson Extension, a few blocks away from Bacolod City Police Office.
On June 14, businessman Jeffrey Keng Seng, 40, of Barangay 1, was shot to death by an unidentified assailant on board a motorcycle along B.S. Aquino Drive-Lacson Streets in Barangay 5.
Jestoni Sabare, 30, a member of force multiplier group, was killed by an unidentified assailant on board a motorcycle on Luzuriaga Street, Barangay 13 on Independence Day, June 12.
Three days prior, on June 8, Jose Allan Braza, 59, an alleged law enforcement asset, was also shot to death by unidentified gunmen in Purok Malipayon, Barangay 35.
On June 5, Rene Mateo, a laborer, was also killed by unidentified man inside the compound of his workplace in Purok 12-A Las Altas, Barangay Alangilan.
Michael Diopeta, 28, and Jemar Berja, 42, both residents of Barangay Sum-ag, were injured after they were shot by the husband of their co-worker On June 1.
Grudges or illegal drug-related activities have been the main motives being looked into by the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) investigators in these killings.
From June 1 to 16 this year, local authorities recorded eight shooting incidents in various barangays in the city.
Of these shooting incidents, only the case of Diopeta and Berja were solved by the police after the suspect, Rommel Castillo, of Barangay Cabug, was arrested and charged for frustrated murder.