GENERAL SANTOS CITY (5 December 2014) - The General Santos City Police Office (GSCPO) has presented its report regarding the peace and order situation in the city to Mayor Ronnel Rivera and to other stakeholders.
On December 1 at the City Hall Conference Room, the City Peace and Order Council headed by Mayor Rivera asked the GSCPO regarding the crime situation of the city from January up to November.
“We have our duties as public servants. We have to extend beyond our means, beyond on what we can do, or else, we will jeopardize the safety of our constituents,” said the mayor in an interview.
“The local government unit of General Santos City is continuously giving the peace-keeping bodies our utmost support, especially on their basic amenities so that they can perform. I chose to help rather than to condemn; that should be the way,” Rivera said.
Mayor Rivera grilled the police specifically on the shooting incidents that took place for the past months.
In the report presented, there is a significant increase in shooting incidents this year compared to 2013, as recorded per police station—a total of 100 as of November 2014.
GSCPO data showed most of these killings happened in Barangay Labangal, Barangay West, and Barangay Calumpang—all urbanized barangays.
Because of that, Sr. Supt. Froilan Quidilla, city police director, said they have strengthened police visibility on these areas with high criminality rate.
Nightly checkpoints are also being held in the city’s main routes such as in the Silway Bridge, Makar to Calumpang Road, and Tambler to Airport Road.
According to Quidilla, these cases have different motives but mostly involve grudge, drugs, theft, and land conflict.
Out of the 100, 10 are still under investigation.
Aside from that, crimes like drugs, gambling, theft, and robberies, were also taken into account.
The police director explained to Mayor Rivera, as well as to the stakeholders, that they are doing their best to mitigate and solve these crimes despite shortage of personnel.
"The number of our personnel covers only 45% (544 personnel) to the ideal public safety and security requirements of the city based on the ideal police-population ratio of 1:500,” said Quidilla.
He said the insufficiency of anti-crime campaign funds and equipment were also factors why their services are duly affected.
Mayor Rivera acknowledged the fact that the PNP has these problems, but he asserted that they are not excuses for not performing well.
As of now, the mayor is currently supporting the "force multipliers" or the "barangay police" as an augmentation to the lacking police force. The “force multipliers” are trained by the PNP and JTF. (Gensan CPIO/ Ian John M. Lagare)
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