Mayor John Dalipe on Wednesday convened the second quarter meeting of the City Peace and Order Council (CPOC), during which he called on the barangay intelligence networks (BINs) in all of the city’s 98 barangays to do their job as mandated of them, especially in intelligence gathering to help law enforcers prevent and solve criminalities in their respective communities.
Dalipe said the city government is giving monthly honoraria to the BIN members, but they hardly help enough the police in terms of intelligence gathering on suspected criminals in their barangays.
“We might as well give that [honorarium] to the police si jende sila hace diila trabajo,” Dalipe hinted as shooting incidents continued, the latest two of which occurred Wednesday in barangays Calarian and Salaan.
This, as the Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO), represented by Col. Paul Andrew Cortez, reported a downtrend in the eight focus crimes across the city during the 1st quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.
Specifically, Col. Cortez cited the significant 28% drop in murder cases or shooting incidents from 22 covering the 1st quarter of 2024 to 16 during the same period this year.
Of the 16 shootings this quarter, Cortez said, five cases have been cleared, seven solved and four under investigation.
A regional trial court has already issued a warrant of arrest against the suspect in the Falcatan, Tetuan shooting that killed three youngsters, according to the police officer.
Also went down were rape cases from 51 to 28 (45.09%); robbery, from 12 to 7 cases (41.67%); theft, from 55 to 38 (44.74%); homicide, from 4 to 1 (75%); physical injury, from 25 to 11 (28%); and carnapping of motorcycle, from 13 to 10 (30%).- (Vic Larato) (photo credits: Bernadeth Lazaro/ Jen Casido)
Source: City Government of Zamboanga Page