MOTORCYCLE-RIDING gunmen killed 125 people around the country from October until early November, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said.
Director Augustus Marquez, chief of the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM), said the motorcycle-riding criminals victimized 363 persons between October 10 and November 5.
Marquez said 115 incidents of robbery involving men riding motorcycles were recorded during the same period. Of the number, 93 shooting incidents and three stabbing incidents were recorded, he added.
"These are incidents wherein motorcycles or scooters are used in the commission of a crime or to ensure a quick escape from the scene of the crime after its commission, as victims died, injured, or unharmed as a result thereof," he said.
Marquez said only 10 incidents were drug-related.
PNP data show only 64 motorcycle-riding suspects were arrested while over 300 remain at large.
He said that of the cases filed against motorcycle-riding suspects, 15 were already "cleared" by the authorities, 45 incidents are considered solved, and 267 incidents are under investigation.
In October, PNP Chief Ronald Dela Rosa said they will shift their focus in crimes perpetrated by motorcycle-riding suspects.
He said the fight against motorcycle-riding suspects may be bloody if the suspects will try to engage his men during their arrest.
However, he said he hopes that the public would look at the entirety of the problem and not just a single incident in which the PNP is immediately being judged for "inefficiency."
Dela Rosa made the statement following the killing of 14-year-old Mike Lorenz Salonga on Friday by motorcycle-riding suspects.
"Maraming namamaril, maraming namamatay, but ito ngayon, nagco-conduct tayo ng operations against riding-in-tandem. Marami tayong napatay, maraming nahuli. And ito may nangyari pa ring isa. Isa lang 'yan," Dela Rosa said.
[There are many shooters, there are many who are being killed but this now, we conduct operations against riding-in-tandem. We have killed a lot and caught so many. And there this one incident, this was just one.)
Dela Rosa said he ordered his men to look into the incidents and make sure the suspects will be caught. (SunStar Philippines)