Metro police chief orders setting up of checkpoints amid recent killings

Manila, Philippines - National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Superintendent Alan Purisima ordered yesterday the setting up of checkpoints in Metro Manila following the killings of a carjack victim and a party organizer in Quezon City.

Purisima said he is leaving it up to the five district directors and 37 chief’s of police (COP) where to implement the daylight checkpoint operations for as long it is in “crime-prone areas.”

“The district directors and COPs have the final say where the checkpoints must be located as long as they accomplished their purpose of preventing crimes,” he said.

The checkpoints should be manned by at least six appropriately armed and uniformed policemen and must not create heavy traffic so as not to inconvenience the public, he added.

Teresita Teano, 34, was killed by carjackers on her way to a yoga session in Kamuning, Quezon City while Cheryl Agnes Sarmiento, a 39-year-old party organizer was gunned down by masked men along Commonwealth Avenue last Wednesday.

Purisima admitted they are facing a blank wall in their investigation of the twin killings.

“We are working on the twin killings on a 24-hour basis. But as of now, we have no definite angle or motive as yet,” said Purisima.

Purisima directed station commanders concerned to solve the cases “as soon as possible” as he warned of dire consequences should they failed to do so.

“There is no timetable or deadline for them to solve the cases. But I will act accordingly once they (station commanders) report no progress in their investigation on the twin killings,” he said.

The father of Teano meanwhile, has joined the fathers of two other carjack victims in decrying the “breakdown of peace and order” in the country.

Lawyer Oliver Lozano, father of Emerson Lozano, and Arsenio Evangelista, father of Venson Evangelista, said they thought the heinous killings of their sons were the end of it until Teano was shot and ran-over by carjackers, who took away her brand-new Hyundai Àccent.

Lawyer Odon Teano said “there certainly was a lapse in security in the incident,” noting that Kamuning Road is a “very busy street” near key government offices, including Camp Crame and the nearby Kamuning police station.

“I’m very surprised why it (carjacking) was very daring,” he said, even as he appealed to President Aquino to “make some adjustments to make the lives of Filipinos safer.”

 – Non Alquitran, Reinir Padua