Samar killings not alarming, police regional chief says

TACLOBAN CITY, April 5 (PNA) -– The Philippine National Police (PNP) in the region maintains killings that have transpired in Samar province are not in an alarming state.

PNP Eastern Vusayas Regional Director Chief Supt. Jose Erwin Villacorte said in a press briefing Monday, that comparatively, shooting incidents from January to March this 2016 has, in fact, dipped compared to the figures revealed during the last quarter of 2015.

“I would say that it would be alarming if we were not able to decrease the number of incidents. But recent numbers say otherwise,” Villacorte explained.

A total of 19 shooting incidents have been recorded by the Samar PNP during the first quarter of 2016. Seven of these incidents occurred in Calbayog City. Comparatively, of the more than 80 incidents last year, 26 of which happened in the fourth quarter of the year.

Tagging Calbayog as “killbayog”, a tag coined after the series of killing incidents in 2015 and recently, purportedly election-related, is quite unfair, according to Villacorte.

Not all of the incidents that occurred can be accounted as election-related with a number of them later found out after police investigation to be land disputes or of personal motives.

Samar has been identified as a concerned area related to this year’s election due to, primarily, 

presence of armed men said to be maintained by certain local politicians. Also, 44 immediate areas of concern in Samar were declared due to the series of killings of political leaders in that province, including Calbayog.

In February, at least 80 members of elite Special Action Force of the PNP were deployed to Calbayog City.

The SAF, according to Villacorte, will only serve during the election period and will respond to any eventualities as support forces to the local police.

Meanwhile, police heads around Eastern Visayas were also ordered to assess election-related factors in their respective areas, such as the presence of private armies, politically-related incidents, political rivalries and loose firearms. (PNA)
FFC/SQM/AHLETTE C. REYES/EGR