TABUK CITY, Kalinga – With 10 suspected drug-related killings in the past five months, police and civilian officials in this city are in the process of instituting measures to prevent the list from lengthening.
Chief of Police Gilbert Fati-ig reported during the City Peace and Order Council (CPOC) meeting on December 14 that starting two weeks ago, they cut short the tour of duty of policemen from 24 hours every other day to 12 hours a day seven days a week so as not to affect their alertness.
They also continually patrol the streets of the population center of the city. All 10 killings happened in the area.
Fati-ig welcomed the pronouncement of Mayor Ferdinand Tubban during the CPOC meeting that barangay tanods will cooperate with the police patrols in monitoring their respective barangays.
Fati-ig would later tell the ZigZag Weekly that the presence of the police, tanod or even just ordinary citizens on the streets could hamper or even prevent the gun men from fulfilling their deadly mission.
He told the CPOC that from their investigation, the gunmen who operate in tandem use motorcycles with pure black color or black with red markings with no plate numbers and most of the time they wear helmets with tinted shields.
Regarding the perception that the police are behind the drive-by shootings, Fati-ig denied that the city police is involved even as he claimed that they fully support government’s campaign against the drug menace but within the bounds of law.
He said that their efforts to combat drugs are limited to the application of search warrants, conduct of check points and buy bust operations.
He believes that the drug-related killings in the city are the possible handiwork of the drug groups themselves and by groups which are against the proliferation of drugs.
During the occasion, Tubban said that the police and local officials cannot counter the assassins by themselves alone and need the cooperation of the community particularly the barangay tanods.
The mayor said that amidst the ongoing war on drugs, the Matagoan Zone status of the center of the city must be preserved.
In the late 80s, the Kalinga Bodong Congress had declared the then population center of the city as a Matagoan Zone (peace zone) exempting it from tribal violence then so prevalent in the then town.
Tabuk City supports the declaration and has in fact established policies and mechanisms through the Matagoan Bodong Consultation Council to maintain peace in the area.
Fati-ig asked the assistance of the council in the effort to account for the remaining five identified drug personalities in the city saying that the clearing of the city from drugs by the end of the year which Governor Jocel Baac, Mayor Tubban and himself have committed to the national leadership will not be achieved without support from the community.** Estanislao Albano, Jr.
