Quote:
Monday, January 08, 2007
=91Vigilantes=92 blamed for 35% of killings
By Jovy S. Taghoy
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THOUGH there is a significant decrease in index crimes in Cebu City,
murder and homicide incidents remained high in 2006 compared to the
previous year.
The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) reported 178 murder cases last year,
seven more compared to 2005 figures.
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Of the 178 cases, so-called vigilantes accounted for 63.
The Homicide Section listed 174 cases of vigilante-style killings since
December 22, 2004.=20
The year 2005 saw the most number of summary executions, with 97. There
were 14 in 2004, but the series began in late December that year. The
police have yet to unmask those behind the rash of killings.
Polio victim Emmanuel =93Butchoy=94 Alburo, 24, was the latest victim, whe=
n a
gunman pumped two bullets into his head last Oct. 8, 2006.
The number of homicide cases also soared by 194.44 percent, with 53 in
2006 compared to just 18 in 2005.
Overall, however, the CCPO recorded a 19.17 percent decrease in crime
volume with 4,390 compared to 5,435 in 2005.=20
Of the 2006 figure, non-index crimes, which are violations of special laws=
such as the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and laws against illegal gambling
and illegal possession of firearms, totaled 1,459.
The rest (2,931 cases) were index crimes, or offenses against persons and
properties. They include rape, homicide, murder, theft, robbery and
physical injuries.=20
The figure is 23.45 percent lower than those committed in 2005 with 3,829
cases.=20
And theft was the most common with 1,421, or 48 percent of all index
crimes recorded. Physical injuries came next with 659 cases; robberies, 61=
4.=20
There was no parricide case recorded last year.
But while the number of index crimes dipped last year, crime solution
efficiency also went down by eight percentage points.
Cooperation
The CCPO managed to solve just 1,189 (40.58 percent) of the 2,931 cases
compared to 1,860 (48.59 percent) of 3,829 cases in 2005.=20
Supt. Melvin Gayotin, former CCPO acting director, attributed this to
their failure to solve the summary executions because of the families and
witnesses=92 lack of cooperation in their investigation.
=93That is our main problem,=94 he told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.=20
He said they have all the physical evidence, but lack the witnesses to
pinpoint the perpetrators.
Gayotin, who left the post as acting CCPO director last week, said the
decrease in index crimes, particularly in high-profile robberies, could be=
due to the arrest of robbery gang leaders Danny Limotan and Rey Torres.
Torres and Limotan were collared in the middle of 2005 in Zamboanga del
Sur and in Valencia, Bukidnon, respectively.
Gayotin said crime went down in his almost three years as acting CCPO
director, and that no banks in Cebu City got robbed last year.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here.
(January 8, 2006 issue)
