Mayor Tomas Osmeña was with police officers, barangay tanods and officials and Carreta residents during an Oplan Pakigsandurot forum the other day when he announced the release of cash rewards to tipsters as part of intensifying the intelligence network against terrorists at the barangay level.
The crowd of 100 at the Barangay Carreta hall applauded when the mayor made the announcement.
Osmeña particularly wants information that will help police identify safehouses of terrorists as well as thieves, drug traffickers or suspicious-looking persons.
The cash rewards, however, will depend on the quality of information furnished. But Osmeña said anyone who gives information, whether false or verified, gets P250 outright.
If after a police investigation, the initial information provided is validated to be accurate, the tipster gets an additional P25,000, especially if it points to an actual terrorist safehouse.
Then if an information leads to the arrest of a terrorist like a verified Abu Sayyaf member, the tipster gets as much as P100,000.
"If it’s Bin Laden, that’s another story," Osmeña said in jest.
Osmeña is serious about the release of cash rewards because he believes that an effective way to avert security threats is to build an intelligence network down to the barangay level.
As a gesture of how serious he is about the cash rewards, Osmeña said they would be taken from the city’s P2.7-million intelligence fund. "We live in a world where nothing is for free. That’s an incentive," he said.
But councilor Sylvan Jakosalem, who handles the intelligence fund, said the bounty project will have to be derived from the funds provided by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).
Jakosalem, who chairs the city council’s committee on dangerous drugs, has already approached the city police budget officer for the release of P1.7 million to be allocated to 11 police and special units involved in the campaign against illegal drugs.
Regional police director Roberto Delfin lauded Osmeña’s move, saying it "is a big help to the campaign against criminality."
A former chief of the Directorate for Intelligence at Camp Crame, Delfin said the giving of rewards has proven to be effective in tracking down suspected criminals.
He, however, downplayed the presence of any members of the Abu Sayyaf or the Moro Islamic Liberation Front here. — Freeman News Service