LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Some seven hundred forty one individuals facing various charges in the different courts inside and outside the province were arrested by combined police operatives and intelligence agents during the first eleven months of this year that contributed in efforts to achieve law and order provincewide.
Senior Superintendent Lyondon Mencio, provincial director of the Benguet Provincial Police office, said that the accomplishment of the local police force in terms of serving the warrants of arrest issued by the different courts was due to the cooperation of the people who provided vital information on the whereabouts of the wanted persons.
“We are still lucky in Benguet because our province is one of the most peaceful provinces in the country. Although the situation in Benguet cannot be compared to the situation 17 years ago, we still value the reign of peace and order in our area of jurisdiction,” Mencio stressed.
The police official reported that there were 376 persons who were subjected to warrantless arrest; 311 individuals who were arrested following the service of warrants of arrest that yielded positive; 34 individuals who were said to top most wanted persons in the municipal level who were collared and 20 persons who were nabbed for being tom most wanted persons in the provincial level.
For the period January to November, police operatives had the highest combined arrests in May with 113 followed by April with 84 combined arrests, October – 80 arrests, July – 78 arrests, June – 67 arrests, March – 58, January 54 arrests, November – 53 arrests and September and February with 50 arrests each.
In terms of arrests made by the different police stations provincewide, La Trinidad accounted for the most number of arrests with 326 followed by Itogon with 140, Tuba – 77, Buguias – 54, Mankayan – 40, Sablan – 38, Tublay – 21, Atok – 14, Kibungan – 9, Kapangan and Bokod with 7 arrests each as well as Kabayan – 5 and Bakun – 3.
Mencio said that the province’s police force will continue to step up its unrelenting and uncompromising campaign against wanted persons in the different parts of Benguet so that those who continue to hide from the long arms of the law will be arrested and turned over to the proper courts for the eventual disposition of the cases that were filed against them.
Mencio, who served in various assignments outside the region prior to his being brought back to the Cordillera a year ago, described the situation of Benguet as totally different compared to when he left the area but what is worthy to emphasize is that people are still the peace-loving ones that he knew in the past, thus, the need for the local police force to work extra hard in intensifying their anti-criminality, anti-insurgency and peacekeeping initiatives.
He urged residents to extend their utmost support to the law enforcers in their places so that lawless elements who continue to seek refuge in peaceful communities in the province will be arrested so that they will answer for the crimes that were charged against them since by freeing the said places from the presence of wanted individuals, peace and order will be fully achieved and people will be able to pursue their daily routines without fear of being harassed or intimidated.
By HENT
