Merced effects reshuffling

Bacolod City police director, Senior Supt. Pedro Merced, ordered the reshuffling of 41 Bacolod police personnel, including several precinct commanders, effective yesterday.

Merced said the reshuffling of police personnel is aimed at strengthening the Bacolod police force and to effectively address the series of crimes occurring in the city.

Former City Mobile Group director and newly-installed Police Precinct 3 commander Chief Insp. Jimmy Fortaleza had been relieved from his post and was transferred to Police Precinct 1 as station commander, replacing Senior Insp. Edel Jose Manzano.

Manzano had replaced Insp. Augusto Buenaventura as Police Precinct 7 commander, while the latter was also transferred to Police Precinct 9 as its commander.

Buenaventura had replaced Senior Insp. Ulysses Ortiz who was transferred to Police Precinct 4, replacing Senior Insp. Romeo Gomez who was assigned as the chief of the Human Resource Doctrine and Development of the Bacolod police headquarters.

Insp. Levy Pangue, a former City Mobile Group operative, replaced Senior Insp. Leonardo Borromeo who enrolled in a police vocational course.

Senior Insp. Joeresty Coronica, Intelligence and Investigation Branch chief, was re-assigned as Police Precinct 3 commander.

Insp. Rei Gumban, chief of the Bacolod Scene of the Crime Operatives, was designated as the IIB officer-in-charge.

Five police station commanders were not affected by the reshuffling. They are Senior Insp. Rolando Valebia - Police Precinct 5, Senior Insp. Jonathan Lorilla - Police Precinct 6, Insp. Danilo Francisco - Police Precinct 8, and Insp. Adonis Rosales - Police Precinct 10 , Merced said.

Merced said he is confident that the newly assigned personnel will do their job effectively, especially in areas covered by Police Precincts 1, 2, 3 and 4, where index crimes usually happen.

He said civilian-clothed personnel will be deployed in critical areas in downtown Bacolod to pre-empt crimes. He also tasked all station commanders to tap the help of barangay captains and tanods in their areas as additional men to combat crimes.*DMG

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'I was abducted by two men'

A 35-year-old woman yesterday complained to Police Precinct 1 that two unidentified men forced her into a van while she was at the Bacolod reclamation area in Brgy. 14, Bacolod City, at about 7 a.m. Friday.

The woman, whose identity is being withheld by the DAILY STAR, told the police she was sending a text message when her alleged abductors dragged her into a van and brought her to a room somewhere in the city.

She claimed her abductors released her in Talisay City, Negros Occidental, the next day. Senior Supt. Pedro Merced, Bacolod City police director, yesterday said he could not attribute the case of the woman to an abduction committed by the alleged "bonnet gang" members.

Merced said he had talked with the woman's relatives and the complainant as well, who both told him that the incident was a plain domestic problem. Merced did not elaborate.*DMG

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More guns seized,
six nabbed

Ten more guns were recovered by the police who also arrested six persons for illegal possession of firearms in the towns of Salvador Benedicto, Murcia, Vallad

olid and Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, the police said. Four of the six arrested persons were tagged as suspects in the series of fighting cock robberies in Brgy. Minoyan, Murcia, and the shooting of Pedro Sumilhig in Brgy. Igmaya-an, Salvador Benedicto last week, police investigations showed.

The arrested suspects were Elisario Indino, 22,and his elder brother, Armando,26, and uncle, Gabriel Indino, 47, as well as Eduardo Lanado.

Two homemade 12-gauge shotguns and a .357 caliber magnum revolver were taken from the possession of the Indino brothers and their uncle.

Police investigations also showed that Armando was tagged as the triggerman in the shooting of Sumilhig at Sitio Kinabong, Brgy. Igmayaan, Salvador Benedicto on Jan. 20.

The arrested suspects and the firearms recovered from their possession were endorsed by troopers of the 1st Scout Ranger Company to the Murcia Police Station.

The police also arrested Elmer Llamado and Mario Ardegosa at Gatuslao Street, Bacolod and Brgy. Minoyan, Murcia, respectively, for possessing unlicensed firearms.

Two .357 magnum revolvers with nine ammunition were also recovered from Llamado and Ardegosa.

Two more unlicensed firearms - a .38 caliber revolver and a homemade shotgun - were also recovered by the police during a raid at the house of Moreto Lagatiman in Brgy. Jerusalem, Cadiz City.

A certain Ronica Gallo also surrendered his .357 magnum revolver to the Cadiz City Police Station, on Jan. 23.

Senior Inspector Rico Santotome said that Rafael Engalla and Ricardo Plinggo also surrendered two .38 caliber revolvers to the Valladolid Police Station during the weekend.

Within a period of three weeks, the Negros Occidental police accounted for 30 unlicensed guns and a fragmentation grenade, under its Oplan Balik Baril campaign.*GPB

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