Tom denies paying, training vigilantes

Mayor Tomas Osmeña shrugged off the accusation of Cebu Archdiocesan media liaison officer Msgr. Achilles Dakay that suspected vigilantes are being "trained" and "paid" to kill ex-convicts and those engaged in illegal activities.

"I'm not training and paying them. I have even my own disallowance pa," Osmeña said, citing the Commission on Audit report on his unliquidated cash advances amounting to P500,000.

Osmeña told reporters that many people already lost faith in the justice system, believing that it is one of the reasons why they supported the vigilante "per se." "I think there is less (crime) now."

In 2004, Osmeña created the "Hunters Team," an elite group of policemen whose mission was to "seek and destroy" criminals in the city.

City police director Supt. Melvin Gayotin invited the church official to give them information that could be useful in solving the spate of killings in the city.

"I am not challenging him (Dakay), but I am inviting him to come to our office and give clues nga makatabang pagsulbad sa problema," Gayotin said.

Dakay had claimed he has a reliable source who told him that suspected vigilantes were being trained and paid to liquidate notorious criminals in the city, but did not mention from where the payment came.

But Gayotin refuted Dakay's allegation, saying there are victims who had survived the attack which gives proof that suspected vigilantes are not that sharp in using guns.

The spate of killings had already claimed at least 167 victims, some of whom were shot in close range, based on the investigation conducted by the Homicide Section of the Cebu City Police Office. - Edwin Ian Melecio and Garry B. Lao/LPM