Town's top cop asks public to be vigilant

CEBU, Philippines - Following the arrest of five armed men in one of the town’s mountain barangays, San Fernando Police Station chief Senior Inspector Jaime Santillan is calling on the public to be vigilant so that the peace and order situation in the area is maintained on or before this Monday’s elections.

 “It is always in the people’s vigilance that we can attain a peaceful election here. So I advise the San Fernandohanons to report any suspicious-looking individual or group of people they see in the streets to the police or to the roving members of the 78th IB,” said the police chief.

Santillan recalled last Tuesday’s arrest of five armed men who were reportedly hired by a politician there to harass the people in barangay Cabatbatan. A tip-off by a concerned citizen who reportedly saw the men carrying guns, led to their arrest.

San Fernando has already been placed under the election watch-list of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) after it was reported that the political tensions has been broiling there. This was welcomed by Mayor Lakambini Reluya, who earlier said that by being in the CPPO’s watchlist they would get additional security people from the CPPO and the AFP.  The town has now additional 12 policemen from the Regional Mobile Group (RMG), five from the Special Reaction Unit (SRU) of the CPPO, and 19 from the Armed Forces of the Philippines who are now deployed in the town’s seven mountain barangays. 

Santillan also said that additional forces from the Philippine Air Force are also helping them this election.

Reluya said it was early this week, when the 78th IB came and started patrolling the town’s mountain barangays. She noted it was on the second night when Nelson Caballero Obal, Jason Cabrera Berbajo, Virgilio MalaParaiso, Jackson Belarmino Salas and barangay tanod Macario Sialmo Delima were apprehended.

Despite the election gun ban, the men reportedly carried two .38 caliber guns and one .357, each with live ammunition.

The police may already have a clue as to who reportedly hired the suspects, but Santillan refused to give the name of that person saying the investigation is still ongoing.

Reluya denied she was behind whatever that group had intended to do in that part of the town.

She said the reason she asked for additional men in uniform sent to her area is to ensure the people’s security, and not be harassed.

Meanwhile, Santillan revealed that they have again received an intelligence report that another group of armed men was found loitering in an upland barangay of the town. Another investigation on this has already been launched to verify the reports, he said. — THE FREEMAN