CATBALOGAN, Samar – Private armed groups of politicians here may be well-armed and
powerful, especially during election period, but the Philippine
National Police (PNP) will no longer allow them to terrorize the Samarnons.
PNP Provincial
Director SSupt. Asdali Idja Abah, in an interview over the weekend,
said the police have already devised schemes to neutralize the private
armies of politicians in Samar.
He, however, refused
to reveal what these schemes are since divulging them before the
public, according to him, will foil such moves. But he stressed that
they have already made initial steps to check the activities of these
groups.
In line with this,
Supt. Abah urged politicians to give the police a free hand in their
campaign to end violence which are common in
Samar,
particularly in the 1st district, during elections.
He, likewise, directed
the local chiefs of police in all the towns of the province to refrain
from any partisan activities and never to submit to the dictates of
politicians.
Supt. Abah informed he
already reprimanded the COPs of some towns in the 1st district for
failing to confirm reports of a number of killings that took place in
the towns of Gandara and San Jorge.
The police director
said though that he cannot qualify as of the moment whether those
killings were perpetrated by the private armed groups. But the weapons
used, he said, will pinpoint such groups as perpetrators.
Supt. Abah cited the
case in Brgy. Buenos Aires in Gandara town where the suspects used an
M16 Rifle and a .45 caliber pistol in killing a victim who was also a
murder suspect.
