PNP SENDS MORE COPS TO MINDANAO VS KIDNAPPINGS/KIDNAP RISE POLICE FAULT
MANILA, JANUARY 13, 2011 (STAR) By Cecille Suerte Felipe - More policemen will be sent to urban areas in Mindanao to stop the upsurge of kidnapping incidents.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Raul Bacalzo said police must ensure public safety in cities in Mindanao.
"We will deploy additional policemen in urban areas of Basilan, while the Armed Forces of the Philippines will handle the situation in rural areas," he said.
Bacalzo ordered additional policemen in Basilan, Cotabato City, Zamboanga City and Cagayan de Oro following the kidnapping of Adin Yu, a restaurant and bakery owner in Cotabato City.
Records showed Yu was snatched in front of the Estosan Garden Hotel, less than 50 meters from the heavily guarded regional operations compound of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The gate to the enclosed ARMM complex is guarded by a platoon of combat-ready policemen from the Regional Mobile Group.
Bacalzo said they plan to set up the PACER (Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response) headquarters in the cities of Zamboanga, Cotabato and Davao.
"We are also planning to put up satellite in Basilan and Sulu areas," he said.
Bacalzo said Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo will also mobilize mayors and governors to help police and the military resolve the problem of kidnapping.
"We are planning to meet the mayors and barangay captains in Basilan and Sulu to discuss the problem and to come up with possible solutions," he said.
However, Bacalzo said police could not go after kidnappers, who would seek refuge in areas controlled either by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front or Moro National Liberation Front.
"We are coordinating with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Teresita Deles to help us in the effort to neutralize groups involved in kidnapping for ransom," he said.
Robredo said an executive order is being prepared to suspend any "absentee" local government official.
Robredo flew to Basilan to talk with Bishop Martin Jumoad to convey the national government's concern for the apprehension of Basilan residents over the spate of attacks on civilians.
Robredo was joined by Bacalzo and Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer.
Jumoad told Robredo the national government seems to have no presence in Basilan.
"At least they listen to us and definitely Basilan has a place in their hearts," he said.
Jumoad asked Robredo to impose a gun ban in Basilan to stop street crimes.
Robredo assured Jumoad of police presence in Basilan to resolve the problem of security.
Basilan Gov. Jum Akbar appealed to local governments to closely coordinate with police and the military to arrest the situation.
During his visit to Jolo, Robredo directed the local government officials to commit their presence in municipalities and districts or face administrative sanction.
Robredo told the local government executives during the closed-door meeting at the provincial capitol to ensure that government services reach their constituents. – With Roel Pareño
FROM MANILA TIMES
KIDNAP RISE IN MINADANO POLICE FAULT BY WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL REPORTER
THE police is to blame for the rise in kidnappings in southern Mindanao and other parts of the country, Director General Raul Bacalzo, the Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, admitted on Wednesday.
Bacalzo said that while the PNP has a special task force, the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response (Pacer) team, to deal with kidnapping cases, it is only concentrated in Metro Manila and lack capability to address the problem nationwide.
But President Benigno Aquino 3rd, he added, has promised to provide logistical support to the Pacer team.
The team "lacks the capability to address the problem in Mindanao but the President has ordered to upgrade [its] capability [to enable it to] reach Mindanao, [including] Sulu and the Basilan area," Bacalzo, who was in Sulu, told Ted Failon of radio station dzMM.
He also admitted that the PNP has failed to sustain its anti-kidnapping campaign, which he said led to the rise of kidnappings not only in Mindanao but also in other urban centers such as Bacolod City in Negros Occidental province.
"I admit that, I accept that we need to focus on the problem. Last year, we arrested and neutralized some [kidnappers] and killed some [of them]. We should focus on that to instill fear and stop the kidnappers," Bacalzo said.
"The PNP has relaxed [against the kidnappers]. Like during the last elections [in May last year], the PNP has relaxed. We have to admit that there is a resurgence [in kidnappings] and we are attending again to the problem," he added.
Senior Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr. earlier denied the claim of crime fighter Teresita Ang See that there has been marked increase since last year in kidnappings wherein most of the victims were Chinese-Filipino, or Tsinoy, businessmen in Mindanao.
Ang See, the chairman of the Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order and a spokesman of the Citizens Action Against Crime, said that kidnapping cases do not appear in crime statistics of the PNP because the organization treats such cases as terror, not criminal, acts.
Cruz, the PNP spokesman, said that from 29 kidnappings in 2008, the number went down to 19 in 2009 and 17 in 2010.
He added that incidents related to organized crime also decreased to 21 in 2010 from 35 in 2009.
"We are not glorifying kidnappers but for better assessment, we merely categorize those perpetrated by terror groups as terror related [acts]," Cruz said.
The latest to be kidnapped in Mindanao were Eulogio Lim Yu, 56, a Chinese-Filipino hardware store owner in Cotabato City, and Largio "Larry" Tam de los Santos, 60, also a Chinese-Filipino, who was kidnapped in the family-owned Farmlands Resort in Isabela City, Basilan.
The kidnappers of Yu have demanded a P50-million ransom and those of de los Santos, P20 million.
According to Bacalzo, the PNP has submitted to President Aquino its "strategic plan" on how to strengthen its anti-kidnapping strategy in Mindanao and elsewhere in the country.
Part of the plan, he said, is setting-up of Pacer headquarters in the Zamboanga area, Cotabato City and Davao City and satellite offices in the Basilan and Sulu areas to enable the police to immediately attend to kidnapping cases.
Bacalzo added that he and Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo have met with the governor of Basilan, the mayor of Isabela City and the commanding officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the area to assess the security situation there.
More policemen, he said, would be deployed in Basilan while the military would be in charge of the rural areas, which he added, are territories of the Muslim militant group Abu Sayyaf.
Besides the Abu Sayyaf, Bacalzo disclosed that lawless factions of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front were responsible for kidnappings in central Mindanao and the Pentagon group in southern Mindanao and nearby areas.
In July last year, the Pacer team said that its campaign resulted in the neutralization of 84 suspects over 12 months from June 2009 to June 2010 and in a significant decline in kidnapping cases from 35 during the first semester of 2009 to 12 for the same period in 2010.
For June 2009 to June 2010, it added that it secured the safe release of 29 victims and successfully rescued 13 others.
The Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order said that it recorded 56 kidnapping cases for the first six months of 2010, which number was four times higher than the 12 cases recorded by the Pacer team for the same period.
Ang See said that the 56 cases involved 73 victims, mostly from Mindanao.
Malacañang also on Wednesday said that "something is being done" to address the rise in kidnappings in Mindanao.
"At this point, all I can tell is that something is being done about it," deputy spokesman Abigail Valte told a Palace press briefing.
"We agree that the kidnappings are really something that . . . it's a concern that needs to be considered as well," she said. Valte did not say what steps are being taken by the authorities to address the kidnappings in Mindanao.
According to Ang See, the recent kidnappings in the South were causing panic among business owners in the province, and that people there were getting demoralized.
She said that while she appreciated efforts of the PNP to address the kidnappings in Mindanao, the organization has to step up its approaches to solving such incidents. With report from Cris G. Odronia
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