Lack of personnel prevents police from putting up substation in sitio

CEBU, Philippines - Lack of manpower is keeping the Talisay City Police from putting up a substation in crime-prone sitio Mananga, barangay Tabunok.

Supt. Henry Biñas, chief of the Talisay City Police Station, said the force has about 60 police personnel including officials, which are shared with the main station in barangay Poblacion, the substation at the city hall, and the traffic division in barangay Tabunok.

Biñas said the police presently have to make do with the manpower they have especially now that the Field Training Police (FTP), which used to assist them in responding to alarms and checkpoints, assigned at the station have been pulled out.

The idea to put a substation in sitio Mananga came up after a series of robberies were reported to have been committed in the area.

This overpopulated portion of the barangay is reportedly where most of robbers hide.

The latest reported incident was committed last Monday dawn when one of the suspect Rolando Sanchez was shot in his right thigh by an unknown individual after he and his cohorts robbed a multicab.

After the shooting, Sanchez was rushed by his companions to the inner portion of sitio Mananga, and due to his wound, he was later taken to the Vicente Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City. The suspects except for one Raymart Roxas, who fled from the area, were arrested in the nearby sitio Kawatan.

Police believed that most of these robbers are not residents of the city so it was agreed both by the police and the barangay that an ID system be implemented to monitor the entry of outsiders.

For some reason, this has not materialized.

Before they were pulled out, FTPs were posted in this area, which Biñas said had brought the crime rate down.

In November last year, PO1 Jessieben Gumandal, an FTP, caught two robbery suspects who tried to run away with the belongings of a passenger of a multicab they just robbed.

Gumandal shot one of the suspects, Johnly Abangan, hitting him in the abdomen.

The next day Abangan's companion, Jeffy Paran, was arrested in their hiding place in Naga City.

Both are now facing criminal charges.

Meanwhile, Biñas said most neighbors in the area are uncooperative. (FREEMAN)