Mayor Rivera grinds Gensan PNP over shooting incidents

By IAN JOHN M. LAGARE

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – City Mayor Ronnel Rivera has admonished Police City Director Sr. Supt. Froilan Quidilla regarding the rising number of shooting incidents in the city the past few months.

The mayor also urged director Quidilla along with the General Santos City Police Office (GSCPO) station chiefs to expedite the resolution of the said cases.

This comes in the heels of a report to the Sangguniang Panglungsod (SP) last July 1 made by Quidilla, together with all the chiefs of police of the city, regarding the peace and order status of General Santos.

In a meeting initiated by Mayor Rivera last July 11 (Tuesday), the police director was asked to present the crime profile of the city.

The mayor also asked Quidilla on what are the actions of the PNP regarding the frequency of shooting incidents in the city beginning January 2014.

In the report given by Quidilla, there were already 70 shooting incidents that had taken place in the city since the start of the year. Out of these 70 killing cases, 31 are still unsolved.

Also, most of the reported perpetrators of these shooting incidents are criminal "riding-in-tandem" assailants.

Mayor Rivera also asked the city director how the local government unit of General Santos City (LGU-GSC) can aid the operations of the PNP. 

"We need to solve these cases immediately because it is already affecting the peace and order of the city, more specifically it is detrimental to the business atmosphere that we are trying to project to investors," the mayor said in vernacular.

"The most hurtful part of this is the prevalent public notions that PNP and the LGU are not doing anything. Even if there are considered solved cases, we cannot gain the trust of the people unless these criminals are held accountable," the mayor stated.

Quidilla said the PNP is doing its best to solve these crimes, but admitted they cannot do it alone unless there is cooperation from the community and the local government. 

"We also have inadequacies in our part especially on the insufficiency of personnel and equipment to strengthen the security of the city. Therefore, we really need the cooperation of everyone to make Gensan peaceful," Quidilla said.

For his part, the mayor has procured patrol motorcycles for the PNP and increased allocated funds for patrolling police and supplies such as gas and food for on-duty patrol officers.

Mayor Rivera also called on “force multipliers” to aid the PNP in improving the patrol visibility in different barangays.

"We in the local government are willing to help you, but the challenge to solve these incidents is still in your hands," Mayor Rivera told the police officers. (GENSAN CPIO/ Ian John M. Lagare)