THE San Fernando Municipal Government is offering a reward of P200,000 to any person who can provide information to the police on the identities of the killers of town councilor Alexander Alicaway.
Mayor Lakambini “Neneth” Reluya, in an interview, also called on local police to put up a local task force to help solve Alicaway’s murder.
“The local police need to conduct a deeper investigation on this,” Reluya told SunStar Cebu yesterday.
Alicaway, 49, was shot dead by two unidentified men in Barangay South Poblacion last Wednesday afternoon.
Reluya said they came up with the cash reward during a meeting with Vice Mayor Fralz Sabalones and the town’s department heads last Thursday.
The money, which is sourced directly from the municipality, might entice witnesses to pinpoint the people behind Alicaway’s murder.
Meanwhile, Reluya denied allegations that she had anything to do with the attack.
Reluya said that while Alicaway was an opposition member, she would never use violence against him and her political opponents.
The mayor made the comment after Alicaway’s family and supporters aired their sentiments on mainstream and social media that politics may be to blame for his death.
Reluya urged Alicaway’s family to “look into all angles” of his murder.
She also urged her critics, especially those allied with the opposing bloc, not to politicize his death.
Alicaway, a veteran town legislator, was reportedly on his way to the Municipal Hall to deliver a letter that he planned to discuss on Monday, when he was shot dead by two unidentified men.
According to the contents of the letter, which reportedly came from an anonymous source, San Fernando’s current administration is selling unserviceable vehicles and heavy equipment to scrap metal dealers without undergoing the bidding process.
In another development, Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Robert Quenery assured the public that there are no government-backed vigilantes in Cebu or any other parts of Central Visayas.
He said that killings perpetrated by unknown assailants, mostly riding-in-tandem gunmen, are being investigated.
“Wala namang pattern yan (There is no pattern). Each incident has its uniqueness,” he said. “We hope in the near future maso-solve na natin ito (we’ll solve the cases)... There are no vigilante killings.”
Quenery said some of the victims were killed while they were drunk. Others were shot dead because of personal grudges.
Some suspected pushers were killed by drug groups for their failure to pay their dues.
Quenery ordered his station commanders to beef up crime prevention measures like conducting more checkpoints and more patrols.
Last year, PRO 7 had the best resolution rate of crimes committed in the country, solving 31,616 of 43,022 cases, or a 73.49 percentage of crime solution efficiency.
Quenery said he has instructed investigators to conduct a thorough investigation on murder cases.
He said that it does not matter if solving the cases will take long, as long as the right suspects are arrested and charged.
The PRO 7 has 2,445 trained investigators.