ILOILO City – “I want to see police personnel in the field…do your job with dedication.”
This was the first order of the newly installed director of the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO), Police Colonel Noel Aliño, after the turnover ceremony at the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) yesterday.
Aliño said his first order to all police chiefs in the province of Iloilo was to increase police visibility and establish 24-hour checkpoints.
“Kapag marami ang police sa daan, ma-prevent natin ang kriminalidad. ‘Yan ang gusto kong mangyari sa mga pulis sa probinsya,” Aliño said.
He will also focus on the four unsolved robbery incidents, particularly the Estancia killings.
He will sit down with the taskforces and assess how to solve these cases.
“Pag-aralan natin ang mga unsolved cases…This is a big challenge sa akin pero gagawin ko ang lahat,” said Aliño.
Four isolated robbery cases in two months left five people dead.
The most recent was the robbery of a convenience store on Muyco Street, Barangay Poblacion, Dingle, Iloilo on Oct. 9. At knifepoint, two unidentified robbers took P10,000 from store employees.
This was the fourth robbery incident in just two months where a considerable amount was taken by unknown perpetrators.
The province also recorded five killings in just six days – from Sept. 10 to 15.
On Sept. 10, at around 4 p.m., security guard Wilson Gait of Carles, Iloilo was shot dead in Barangay Bito-on, Carles town.
He and his four companions were robbed by four armed men.
Before the robbery, the victim and his three fellow security guards, all from Carles, withdrew P320,000 for the salary of employees in Sicogon Island.
On Sept. 14, three young businessmen were shot dead in Barangay Villa Pani-an, Estancia town.
The fatalities were Jan Paul Mark Bosque, Chrysler Floyd Fernandes and Mark Clarenz Libao. Their other companion, Jevron Parohinog of Estancia, survived the attack unharmed and is still considered both a witness and a person of interest.
A day after, on Sept. 15, 44-year-old delivery truck driver Jerry Faldas was shot to death by robbers in Barangay Pasig, Lambunao town, while his two companions were wounded.
The robbers carted away an estimated P591,000 in cash./PN
