Police chief: Liloan remains safe

CEBU, Philippines - The chief of police in Liloan has assured the residents that their town remains a safe place to live in despite the spate of shooting incidents involving fraternity members.

Chief Insp. Richard Oliver made the assurance amidst fears expressed by some residents of Liloan on the social networking site about their security.

As of Tuesday there were already five shooting incidents recorded by the police since January 1. Oliver explained that not all shooting incidents in Liloan are fraternity related. He said that out of the five incidents only two were related to fraternity rivalry. The other cases were linked to land disputes and old personal grudges.

Oliver said that the suspects in the fraternity related shooting incidents have already been charged.

“Ang ubang tao are comment ng comment without verifying the veracity of it,” he said.

He asked the residents of Liloan to verify first before making comments on the social networking sites to avoid causing panic.

Last Tuesday four people were injured in Barangay Tayud when a certain Adonis Cuyos shot his uncle Maximo Ceraspi. Aside from Ceraspi a certain Jeffrey Baylosis was also injured and two others. Cuyos shot Ceraspi from behind allegedly because of a personal grudge.

According to Oliver, Mayor Duke Frasco, in response to the series of shooting incidents, has already given the directive to implement the local curfew ordinance.

Oliver said that minors are no longer allowed outside of their house from 10:00 pm until 6:00 am. Those who are caught violating the curfew ordinance will be invited to the police station or at the barangay hall where they will be personally fetched by their parents.

“They should not blame their children because it is the parents’ responsibility and we are not sleeping in our jobs,” Oliver said.

Based on the town’s curfew ordinance, violators will be asked to plant 10 fruit bearing fruits for the first offense. P500 fine and two days civic work for second offense and P1,500 plus 10 days civic work for the third offense.

Aside from the curfew, Oliver said they are also conducting daily and night checkpoints. — (FREEMAN)