By Sheila
Covarrubias
ZAMBOANGA
CITY,
Apr. 24, (PIA) - - Mayor Celso Lobregat has
strongly urged police and military agencies to keep the momentum high in the
drive against lawless elements, as he commended authorities for the series of
breakthroughs obtained in recent anti-crime operations.
The mayor issued the call during a high level meeting with top military
and police officials to include Western Mindanao Command Chief MGen. Noel
Coballes, Police Regional Office-9 Director PCSupt. Napoleon Estilles, City
Police OIC Director PCSupt. Mario Yanga, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-9
Director Adzhar Albani and Task Force Zamboanga Chief Col. Buenaventura
Pascual, Saturday morning in City Hall.
The meeting was initiated by Lobregat to discuss the need for close
coordinative efforts between government and law enforcement agencies in the
fight against criminal elements specifically in the operations conducted in
barangay Recodo.
The mayor, who is the City’s Peace and Order Council chairman, said the
authorities have to continue anti-crime operations and make sure that drug
activities in barangay Recodo are curtailed if not stopped.
Combined elements from the City Police Office and PDEA-9 have nabbed a
number of suspected drug pushers, gun for hire group members and other law
offenders in a series of operations recently. Several of those apprehended are
said to be involved in a number of previous shooting incidents, based on testimonies
of survivors or relatives of past victims.
PDEA-9 Director Adzhar Albani, who led the operations lamented that some
of those apprehended and said to be involved in numerous crime incidents are
members of law enforcement agencies and or carry with them mission orders
issued by ranking officials.
Mayor Lobregat said the meeting sought to thresh out kinks and to
encourage close coordination between and among the different military and
police agencies so that any and all anti-crime efforts will not be for naught.
There should be a continuous drive to cleanse the different agencies of
any drug users or pushers or people with connections or involvement in illegal
activities, the mayor asserted.
He averred that authorities should keep the momentum high in its
anti-crime operations by not letting their guard down and relentlessly pursuing
criminal elements in the city.
The series of breakthroughs achieved recently is one proof that the
authorities are not resting and not stopping in fulfilling their mandated duty
to sustain public safety, the mayor added. (JPA/SC/CIO/PIA
9-ZBST)
