Inayawan shootings keep people on edge

CEBU, Philippines- Cebu City Councilor David Tumulak is calling for a meeting with barangay and police officials along with families of victims over the “alarming” number of shooting incidents in Barangay Inayawan.

As per monitoring by the city’s Command Control Center (C3), he said that Barangay Inayawan has the most number of shooting incidents among all 80 barangays of the city.

Tumulak said that based on C3 records, the 79 other barangays have only one to five shooting incidents.

Inayawan, on the other hand, recorded 20 shooting incidents from January 10, 2014 to March 1, 2015, resulting to the death of 16 victims.

Because of this, Tumulak said asked Inayawan officials, the Pardo Police Station chief, Cebu City Police Office homicide section policemen, and families of the victims to a meeting to address the situation.

“Mag-meeting ta kon unsay posibleng lakang nga himoon nga mawala ang kahadlok sa katawhan sa barangay ug para mahatagan sab og hustisya ang mga pamilya,” he said.

Tumulak, the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council chief, said he was alarmed by the numerous shooting incidents in the barangay.

He said that the Abangan family, who has a family member victimized in a shooting incident the other day, went to his office seeking for help.

“Ang kabalaka sa taga-barangay nga ang ilang miyembro sa pamilya nga dugay manguli sa balay delikado,” he said.

“Sa atong pag-imbestiga sa maong barangay, nasuta nato nga duna na silay drug-related, gang-related (shooting incidents),” the city councilor said, adding that all 20 are still unsolved.

The number, he said, does not even include other incidents recorded by the police, as it is just based on the incidents that C3 has dispatched an ambulance to.

“Makapa-alarma kining sunod-sunod nga pagpamusil kay ang mga pamilya nanawagan diri sa atong opisina nga magpatabang nga makita og hustisya. Dunay possibility nga naa pay instances nga daghan og mga shooting incidents wala pay labot sa police station,” Tumulak said.  (FREEMAN)