A series of killings since late last year has alarmed residents of General Santos City, leading them to blame the city police for not doing enough to stop the .45 caliber pistol-wielding criminals.
City Councilor Josemar Edmar Yumang pointed to City Police Director Col. Aden Lagradante as the culprit for not undertaking drastic measures to stop the motorcycle-riding suspects.
“GenSan police city director Agradante must exert all efforts to arrest the killers particularly the [motocycle-riding] criminals who killed their victims without mercy and must address the problem,” Yumang said in an interview.
Police records showed that about 30 individuals and prominent businessmen have been killed by the suspects.
Lagradante, according to the city residents, has been sleeping on the job.
In October last year, , Master Sgt Manuel Coronado. 38, who was then assigned as chief of the intelligence section of Police Station 4, was driving his car with his three children when they were waylaid by motorcyccle-riding suspects.
In November last year, May Shiell Ladrera Villaflores, 27, a former agent of an investment scheme operated by the controversial religious group Munificence Ministry, was killed by unidentified men.
In September last year, the namesake and 23-year-old son of former professional boxer Rolando Navarette was gunned down in Barangay Lagao by two assailants on board a motorcycle.
In all three cases, investigators recovered spent shells of a cal .45 pistol, which is usually used by the police, military and gun-for-hire criminals.
Lagradante, however, brushed aside the allegations.
Police records also showed that loose firearms have been a problem in General Santos City.
Gun smuggling is also a lucrative business of local politicians of Sarangani and South Cotabato.
A gun-for-hire group is now active in Gensan, according to a police officer who asked not to be named.
Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Alfred Corpuz, director of Police Region 12, said GenSan residents should report gun smuggling.
“Killings will not be stopped unless these gun-for-hire and gun smuggling syndicates continue to operate in Region 12. Gensan is just like South Cotabato and Sarangani that has unstable peace and order condition,” an officer of the Regional Intelligence Office, who also asked not to be identified, said on Thursday.
Source: Jerry N. Adlaw