BACOLOD City – Councilors called on the local Peace and Order Council to convene and formulate measures to prevent all heinous crimes in the city.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod passed a resolution making this call in light of attacks on local officials, the most recent being against Councilor Ricardo “Cano” Tan and his wife.
For the early resolution of heinous crimes, the Peace and Order Council may form a special investigation task force while the mayor may set up a reward system, said Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr., author.
Aside from the ambush of Tan, among such crimes were the killings of the lawyer Rafael Atutubo and Nelson Ligaya, village chief of Barangay 16.
These have remained unresolved, Gamboa said.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia “may use intelligence funds” to support law enforcement agencies and local anticrime groups, said the councilor.
Moreover, ordinances focusing on peace and order – those related to “riding-in-tandem,” bonnet-wearing, and closed-circuit television cameras – must be strictly enforced, he said.
This “breakdown in law enforcement” has “caused fear in the community and may affect the way of life in this highly urbanized city,” Gamboa added.
Tan and wife Anita were ambushed while on their way home from the family-owned Campuestuhan Highland Resort in Barangay Cabatanga, Talisay City, Negros Occidental.
Three unidentified armed men aboard a small white wagon waylaid and peppered them with bullets while they were on board their Nissan Patrol sport utility vehicle on Dec. 14 in Purok Tagaytay, Barangay Alangilan.
In a related development, local government officials plan to hold a closed-door executive-legislative meeting to discuss the ambush of Tan.
Representatives from the Philippine National Police and its Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) are expected to attend the meeting, said Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran.
Tan himself requested the NBI to handle the investigation into their ambush, the vice mayor disclosed.
Bullets missed Tan and his wife but the couple were wounded by the shards of their broken windshield.
Familiaran said they do not have a date for the meeting yet. Mayor Evelio Leonardia will have to decide on the schedule, he said./PN
