PNP chief orders quick solution to poll-related violence

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine National Police Director General Jesus Verzosa has directed all regional police directors to quickly solve election-related incidents of violence in their areas of jurisdiction after a series of ambuscades in Northern Luzon and Eastern Mindanao this week, which killed four people.

“It is imperative for the PNP to determine politically-motivated killings in order for the police to lay down appropriate interventions up to the run up of the national and local elections next year,” Verzosa said in his directive Friday.

The order came after at least four people were killed and nine others wounded in separate attacks in various provinces within a span of a week.

Verzosa directed police officials in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Caraga in Mindanao, and Ilocos region in Northern Luzon to identify those responsible for the attacks in Lanao del Sur, the shooting of a vice mayoral candidate in Surigao del Norte and the murder of another local candidate in Ilocos Norte, all of which happened in a span of five days.

Verzosa said he instructed police officials to establish the motives for these killings to separate those that were politically motivated, “especially at this time when the PNP is finalizing its preparations of its operational and security plans for the national elections next year.”

In the Ilocos region, police have deployed a company of the elite Regional Mobile Group (RMG) in Ilocos Norte to avert any more attacks following the killing of village chief Joen Caniete on Monday. Caniete was vying for a seat in the Dingras town council in the 2010 elections.

Caniete was killed when his convoy was waylaid by at least 10 suspects in Dingras, Ilocos Norte. Eight other persons were wounded in the incident.

Chief Superintendent Constante Azares, Ilocos regional police director, said that the primary motive for the attack was politics.

Azares said that follow-up operations have led to the confiscation of several unlicensed firearms, which are now being tested for ballistics examinations.

source: http://politics.inquirer.net