Ecija cops clamp down on motorbikes after rash of killings

CABANATUAN CITY – Following a string of murders, the Nueva Ecija police have clamped down on motorcycles which are reportedly being used as convenient getaway vehicles of suspects.

In this city, Nueva Ecija’s trade and commercial capital, police are establishing a database of all motorcycle-riding men, including back riders, in order to strictly monitor their movements as motorcycles are commonly used in the commission of crimes. All the three latest murder incidents were perpetrated by gunmen who used motorcycles in their escape.

Police Superintendent Eliseo Cruz, city police chief, said they will install computer laptops in the designated checkpoints where the names, addresses, license plates, proof of ownership of vehicle  as well as the pictures of the motorcycle drivers and riders will be posted.

Based on the operational guidelines governing the crackdown against motor vehicles, Cruz said  all motorcycles with no issued plates for a period of three months from the purchase of the said vehicle will be impounded.

Cruz said aside from the crackdown against motor vehicles, they are also setting up 12 checkpoints in crime-prone areas here, manned by a 104-man police contingent.

This came on the heels of three murder incidents since last month, including the killing last Monday of the barangay chairman of Barlis.

Cruz said the checkpoints are strategically located in five police-subtations of the city and seven other strategic locations. These are at the Bangad, Sumacab, Plaza Lucero, Daang Sarile and Sangitan police sub-stations and in barangays Mayapyap Norte, Mayapyap Sur, Daan Sarile, Sanciangco Highway, Mabini Highway, Gabaldon Highway, Circumferential Highway, Del Pilar Crossing and at the intersection of the Cesar Vergara Bridge. 

The establishment of checkpoints here, which was contained in an operational plan submitted to Nueva Ecija police director, Senior Superintendent Napoleon Taas, came as an offshoot of the consecutive murders of Barlis barangay chairman Marcos Soriano, Cordulo Ascano and Gregorio Diaz.

Soriano was gunned down by a lone gunman while with his wife in a bingo stall in Barangay Mayapyap Norte Monday. On April 28, two unidentified gunmen shot dead Ascano along the Maharlika Highway in Barangay Quezon District while Diaz was felled by two gunmen in Barangay Magsaysay Norte this city on April 19.