NATIONAL Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Oscar Albayalde reminded his men anew on Tuesday, March 27, to beef up operations against motorcycle-riding criminals who are mostly behind shooting incidents.
From December 5 to March 13, 2018, Albayalde said a total of 77 shooting incidents were recorded in Metro Manila. Only nine were solved.
"As much as possible, sabi nga ni chief, kung hindi man lang ma-zero, ma-minimize talaga ‘yung mga ganyang incidents, ‘yung mga riding-in-tandem incidents, ‘yung motorcycle riding suspects, ito ‘yung direktiba ng ating chief PNP," he said.
(As chief PNP said, these riding-in-tandem incidents should be minimized. That is the directive given by chief PNP.)
"Although inaamin natin hindi talaga natin kaya ma-zero 'yan, remember we still have problems on loose firearms not only here in Metro Manila, the whole country 'yan," he added.
(We admit that it is not possible to totally eradicate this. Remember, we still have problems on loose firearms not only in Metro Manila, but in the whole country.)
Albayalde said the crime incidents perpetrated by "riding-in-tandem" suspects continue to be a challenge to the police force.
Meantime, he defended his decision to fire the Caloocan City police chief due to the “series of unsolved incidents” in his area of responsibility.
After he was fired on Monday, Caloocan City police chief Senior Superintendent Jemar Modequillo admitted that shooting incidents in the city have become uncontrollable although he noted that the Caloocan City police force was mostly composed of rookie cops.
“You cannot compare Caloocan City to other cities. (The others) are already manned by police who have been there 10, 20 years—compared to the one month, two months of the people here (Caloocan),” he said.
Modequillo took over the Caloocan City police office in September 2017 as replacement of Senior Superintendent Chito Bersaluna, who was relieved from his post over the controversial killing of 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos and 19-year-old Carl Angelo Arnaiz.
The entire Caloocan City police force was also relieved.
Albayalde had refused to accept Modequillo's reasoning.
“Hindi pwedeng i-reason yan. I cannot accept that reason. Kung kahapon lang sila (na-assign sa Caloocan) pwede pa (It would be more acceptable if they were assigned to Caloocan just yesterday),” he said.
“It does not follow na pag ikaw ay bago sa lugar ay hindi mo alam yung lugar na yun. Kailan pa ba nangyari yung pag-relieve natin sa mga pulis dun? Last year pa yun. You think dun sa six o five months hindi ka pa nakapag-establish ng connection mo run. Kung hindi kayo nakapag-establish ng connection at that length of time, ibig sabhin wala silang ginagawa,” he added.
(It does not follow that if you are new to a place that you do not know the place. When did we relieve the police force? Last year. If they haven't established connections since then, that means they have not done anything.) (SunStar Philippines)