La Union’s Tsinoys want cops to be more visible

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union — Fearing for their safety, the Chinese-Filipino community is asking the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to make police more visible in public places and business centers here.

"We ask for more policemen to be assigned in business areas," said Victor Dy, former president of the local Lion’s Club and owner of National Bazaar.

Their clamor for stepped-up security came as Jacqui Rowena Tiu, daughter of a hardware store owner, was abducted by three armed men in Barangay Lingsat here last Thursday.

Dy asked the police and immigration bureau to monitor the activities of transients, particularly those with Chinese features.

"Some of them are outlaws in mainland China who enter the Philippines with trouble in their hands," he said.

Dy said he thus favors the government’s proposal to institute a national identification (ID) system.

Heeding the traders’ clamor, Superintendent Dominador Aquino Jr., city police chief, has deployed, upon the directive of Mayor Mary Jane Ortega, plainclothes policemen in schools and business establishments, particularly those owned by Chinese-Filipinos.

Yesterday, the entire La Union police conducted a mock "rescue and interception," catching some residents by surprise. — Vic Alhambra Jr.