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[av_heading heading=’‘TOKHANG’ VS GANGS’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
Cops visit youngsters, families
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO City – Police are averting gang violence here by reaching out to identified youth gang members themselves.
They launched a “tokhang” operation (toktok-hangyo, or knock-and-appeal) similar to the one they did during the first phase of the intensified antidrug operation Oplan Double Barrel.
But for youth gangs, the approach involves parents and/or guardians, said Senior Superintendent Remus Zacharias Canieso, director of the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO).
ICPO teams led by the district police stations’ units for women and children protection and police-community relations visit the houses of the gang members and talk to them and their families.
“Ginahangyô naton sila (families) nga kon mahimo i-guide properly ang ila bata because basi may future pa ang mga ini,” said Canieso.
The ICPO teams have visited 15 houses on Thursday. Visitations continued yesterday, and Canieso is expecting a report today.
“I instructed them (visiting teams) to profile every member. Kuhaan sila data para may reference kita,” he said.
Mainly the operation aims to persuade the youngsters to quit their gangs to avoid violence, said the city police director.
The ICPO has identified 25 youth gangs disturbing the metro’s tranquility, and it continues to monitor more.
Canieso appealed to the public to help the police identify youth gangs.
Gang-related violence has been bugging the city in recent months.
Two of the identified gangs — the “See Crazy Kids Toughies Nice Girls” (Shoktong) and “D Ilonggos Crew Thugs Amegos” (Dicta) — denied having violent tendencies.
According to Canieso, their leaders and members trooped to the ICPO to clear their groups’ names and vowed to help the city ICPO maintain peace and order and even hold community service.
Canieso had a conference with the two gangs on Wednesday. He said the groups claimed their names were being used by wayward minors to get back at enemies.
The “original” Shoktong gang claimed its members are college students and some are now professionals.
Dicta, on the other hand, claimed its members are now seafarers but there are some still going to a university in Molo district.
“They have no criminal record,” Canieso said of the two gangs.
He urged other gangs the ICPO has identified to also visit the city police office. “Let’s make Iloilo City peaceful,” said Canieso.
Shoktong and Dicta vowed to help clean the city’s streets after the Dinagyang Festival this Jan. 22, he said.
Meanwhile Canieso said they have no information yet regarding the youth gangs’ possible involvement in drug trafficking but admitted that a youth gang was arrested in a recent antidrug operation./PN
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