By Nitz Arancon and Lito Rulona
AN average of 11 crimes are being committed in the city every day. From Feb. 28 to Jan. 28, the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (Cocpo) has recorded 344 criminal cases.
SECURITY PLANNING. City police director Senior Supt. Graciano Mijares calls a subordinate and talks to him about the details of the security plan for the Holy Week. (photo by Nitz Arancon)
Most of the cases were robbery and homicide, according to Councilor Roger Abaday, a criminologist, who gathered the information during a security briefing that involved the police, army and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Nica).
Abaday said the 344 cases exclude the killing of money changer Raul Tan, the robbery involving a cashier of Asia Glass Palace near Recto and Osmeña, and the robberies in Gusa that took place last week.
On Monday, robbers struck for the nth time and victimized a Pakistani identified as Syed Ali Kazim Bukari, 44, of Barangay Bulua. The foreigner was robbed of some P67 thousand by three armed men in Kauswagan.
Alarmed, the city council yesterday approved a resolution to ask Congress to amend the law that requires motorcycle users to wear helmets in city propers, saying these were being used by robbers to hide their faces.
Councilor Juan Sia, the resolution’s author, said the helmet law needs to be amended even as he noted that a number of shootings and killings were carried out by motorcycle riders who concealed their identities using helmets.
“Some cities have already enacted ordinances prohibiting the wearing of full-faced helmets by motorcyclists within the city proper,” he said.
But Abaday said amending the helmet law won’t be a solution to the worsening peace and order situation in the city.
“This is not the solution. The solution is the widening of the intelligence network starting from the barangays,” Abaday said.
Abaday urged city hall and the police to organize more security fora in the city.
