A library picture of a victim of gun attack in Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)
ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 16, 2012) – The Philippine police on Thursday downplayed the spate of killings in the southern port city of Zamboanga, saying the peace and order situation is not alarming.
Regional police chief Napoleon Estilles said the local security condition is better than previous years, saying the there were more killings the past years. “It is not too bad if we compare killings in the past years, say the last three years,” he said.
He said there were only 127 cases of killings from January to August last year.
But the number of killings during the same period this year has reached 131 and gun attacks continue in Zamboanga City with authorities blaming the proliferation of illegal weapons and feud as the cause of the murders.
Estilles defended the police force from public criticisms, saying they are doing their best to stop the killings. “As a matter of fact, we are intensifying our efforts to solve and stop the spate of killings in Zamboanga,” he said.
He also gave an ultimatum to police commanders to double their efforts to stop the killings in their respective areas. “I have given the station commanders an ultimatum and those who have the most numbers of shooting incidents in a month will undergo retraining, including all those policemen under them,” Estilles said.
Estilles urged the public to help the authorities by reporting crimes.
Zamboanga is one of the cities in the country that has the highest number of policemen, but despite this, the gun attacks and killings still continue unabated here. (Mindanao Examiner)
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