By Dolly Yasa
BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson on Tuesday ordered the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOcPPO) to extend whatever help in the maintenance of peace and order in this city.
Lacson issued the order after he met with Police Col. Leo Pamittan, NOcPPO director of Negros Occidental, following a separate meeting on Monday with Bacolod City Mayor-elect Alfredo “Albee” Benitez, and Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) director Col. Thomas Joseph Martir.
Nine shooting incidents have occurred in Bacolod City in June 2022 alone.
Lacson said Pamittan assured that the killings in Bacolod City have not spread out to the province.
The governor said he told Pamittan to continue their vigilance.
“If there’s a way we can help the situation in Bacolod City, let’s also extend a hand,” the governor told the NOcPPO chief.
The meeting between the province and Bacolod is an indication that both local government units will work together in the next three years, Lacson added.
During the meeting with Martir, Lacson said that he and Mayor Albee manifested their concerns over the series of shooting incidents here.
Lacson stressed the importance of identifying and arresting the suspects during shooting incidents.
“It has to be that way, in order to assure the public that it is not getting out of control,” he further said.
Martir reported Monday that charges were already filed against some suspects in the shooting incidents, which were either triggered by personal grudges, or related to illegal drugs transactions.
The case of a policeman, who was also involved in shooting incident, was also amicably settled, he added.
As to their visibility operations, Martir said they need fuel for police station vehicles to sustain their round-the-clock patrol, and more police personnel, whom he expects to arrive in August.
Benitez has promised to provide 100 police auxiliaries to be distributed to 10 BCPO police stations.
