Sagarbarria, police refute claims of unsolved killings

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria and the City Police denied newspaper and radio reports that there were 32 “extrajudicial killings” last year, which allegedly remained unsolved to this day.

In a hurriedly called press conference at the city mayor’s office yesterday, Supt. James Goforth, chief of the City Police, presented statistics disproving the reports, which he said were without basis and unfair.

Goforth lamented that even the accidental shooting between two minor siblings, the shooting of a mentally deranged person who went wild outside the emergency room of the provincial hospital and the shootout between a policeman in Brgy. Canday-ong and a suspected drug pusher, were listed as extrajudicial killings in the report.

He also belied published reports that all of the 32 shootings were unsolved, showing proofs to the media that,  of this number, 20 were drug-related and ten of which were solved.

Goforth said the shootings were not “extrajudicial killings” because these were turf wars among illegal drugs groups, and the victims themselves would refuse to pursue the filing of cases against the suspected triggermen.

It was even possible that at least two groups of illegal drugs personalities have been maintaining “tiradors” (hitmen) or they themselves are hunting each other, due to conflict in collections and remittances of proceeds from their illegal trade, he said.

Sagarbarria said he felt sad upon hearing reports that 32 individuals were executed in Dumaguete that has been known as the City of Gentle People. He urged the media to be more accurate in this case to avoid giving a scenario or impression that his administration has not been doing anything to curb the proliferation of illegal drugs in the city.

He clarified though that he was not preventing the media from reporting the happenings in the city, but then they have to make sure they were not instituting undue fear to the residents. “I have to fight the illegal drug trade in the city at all cost. I don’t want our children, and our children’s children to be drug addicts in the future because the present leadership just backed off,” the mayor told The Freeman.

Sagarbarria said he will not allow the city to be under the control of a drug cartel and a situation where shabu can already be bought at “lima singko” in the city streets.

A total of 81 cellphones have been distributed to the 30 barangays in the city with the mayor’s contact numbers for important information needed in identifying the pushers and the users. Forty five of these cellphones were purchased by the city government and the rest from the mayor’s personal money.

As a result, from January to the present, a total of 14 anti-drug operations were undertaken with 18 drug personalities arrested, 15 of who were pushers and three were users. Of these operations, five were done via information relayed by individuals who were given the cellphones.

Goforth added that the success in the campaign against illegal drugs depended on how good the police investigators are and on how big is the help of the community.  (FREEMAN)