Quiapo residents fear breakdown of peace and order

Residents in Quiapo, Manila fear a breakdown of peace and order at the Muslim Center following the successive killings of two Mindanaoans this week.

On Fiday evening, one Tohamy Abas, alias Datu Ali, a vendor, and a native of Pikit, Cotabato, was gunned down in the so-called "Little Vietnam" along Arlegui St. in Quiapo.

Police said the victim had earlier figured in an argument with an unidentified man shortly before the shooting.

Minutes later while the victim was resting in front of his house, an unidentified man shot him in the face and the bullet exited at the back of his head.

The victim was declared dead on arrival at the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center while the gunman escaped.

Last Wednesday, a former close-in security officer of former Col. Macacna Lucman was also shot dead while passing along Palanca St. near the Muslim Center on board a bicycle.

Mamater Decampong, 28, died instantly but the suspect was not arrested.

Several killings have occurred in the Muslim community in Quiapo lately but police seem helpless in solving the crimes.

Investigators attributed their failure to prosecute the offenders to the non-cooperation of the victims’ families in the investigation.

Autopsies, which are vital in solving a crime, are not allowed in the Muslim tradition since they immediately bury their dead.

Sources in the Muslim community told The STAR that Muslims usually resort to vengeance to seek justice for their slain relatives.

"The vengeance is rooted up to the seventh generation of the slain Muslim family, that’s why killings and counter-killings are not stopped," a veteran investigator said.

The series of killings in the Muslim community have brought fear to the peaceful sectors of the community that they may be caught in the crossfire.

A number of police saturation drives have been conducted in Little Vietnam to flush out undesirable residents, but so far police operations have not stopped the senseless killings.