ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / June 11, 2014) – Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines has put up a meager fund as reward money for anybody who could help or provide authorities with a flow of information about crime and criminals.
This, after Mayor Maria Isabelle Salazar said that the local government will give monetary rewards to civilian informants who provided authorities with information that led to the arrest of two kidnappers – one from Zamboanga del Norte and the other is a native of Zamboanga Sibugay province.
She also told the police to prepare the documents so the informants can get their rewards. “We just need to make sure that the reward recipients really accomplished the task and I have asked Col. Casimiro to already process the necessary documents,” she said.
Salazar was referring to the local police chief Senior Superintendent Angelito Casimiro.
She said the city government has allocated P1 million reward money for this year. “The candidates for the reward money are those who provided the police with information that led to the whereabouts and eventual arrest of the kidnap group leaders,” she said.
Casimiro did not identify the informants as part of their security precaution to protect them and their families from possible retaliation from other members of the kidnap gang. “The reward money will be given to the informants as soon as the documents are done,” he said without further elaborating.
It was not immediately known how much reward the informants would get from the local government, but the private sector said the reward money is not enough, saying security remains a big problem in Zamboanga City where ransom kidnappings and gun attacks are not uncommon. (Mindanao Examiner)
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