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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Saturday, October 21, 2017
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ILOILO – The 3rd District is next to the 5th District in incidences of crime, thus it is the police’s next focus of operation, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Region 6.
Chief Superintendent Cesar Hawthorne Binag, Western Visayas police director, considered the 3rd District a “ka-kompetensya” (rival) of the 5th District in peace and order concerns.
Like the 5th District, cases of theft, rape, robbery, murder, homicide, physical injury, “motornapping”, and “carnapping” in the 3rd were rising, said Binag.
The 3rd District is composed of nine towns – Badiangan, Bingawan, Cabatuan, Calinog, Janiuay, Maasin, Mina, Lambunao, and Pototan on the western-central side of the province.
“After our peace and order campaign in the 5th District, my instruction to police provincial director (Senior Superintendent Marlon) Tayaba is to focus on the 3rd District. Ito ‘yung parang ka-kompetensya ng 5th District kung saan meron tayong concerns. As of now, pinapa-assess ko pa lang,” Binag told reporters.
Tayaba himself said the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) monitored two criminal gangs in the 3rd District.
These gangs, Tayaba said, were engaged in robbery/hold-up, drug trafficking and gun-for-hire activities in the towns of Calinog and Pototan but at times were also stretching their operation to other municipalities.
They sow fear among residents, said Tayaba.
In the 5th District, the IPPO monitored four criminal gangs in the towns of Sara, Estancia, San Rafael, and Lemery.
Tayaba declined to name the criminal groups in the two districts citing police operational concerns. But he said these groups have politicians for protectors.
The 5th District is made up of the municipalities of Ajuy, Balasan, Barotac Viejo, Batad, Carles, Concepcion, Estancia, Lemery, San Dionisio, San Rafael, and Sara, all in northern Iloilo.
While Tayaba begged off from naming the three criminal gangs in the 3rd District, he recently disclosed that one of IPPO’s priorities was arresting fugitive drug suspect Ernesto Bolivar and his group.
Bolivar is a suspected subgroup leader of slain drug lord Richard Prevendido. His group operates in central Iloilo and Capiz province, according to the regional police office.
After Prevendido was killed in a shootout with policemen in Barangay Balabago, Jaro, Iloilo City on Sept. 1, the PRO-6 named Bolivar its next priority target in the campaign against illegal drugs.
Bolivar, a resident of Barangay Guinacas, Pototan, has a standing arrest warrant for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. He was subjected to a buy-bust operation at his house last Nov. 9, 2016 but managed to escape.
The municipal government of Pototan is offering a P200,000 reward to whoever could give information leading to the fugitive’s arrest.
Tayaba believes Bolivar is still in Iloilo.
“Sooner or later makukuha din natin sya,” said Tayaba./PN
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