From the Philippine News Agency (Aug 14): Guv orders PNP director to solve Guihulngan killings
DUMAGUETE CITY -- Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo said he will not confirm the designation of Senior Supt. Raul Tacaca as full-fledged director of the provincial police until he has addressed the spate of killings in Guihulngan City.
Degamo issued the statement Monday during the opening of an intensive training on the conservation of movable and immovable cultural property of the Diocese of Dumaguete, which was graced by the chairman of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) and the director of the Department of Tourism 7 (Central Visayas).
The governor said he wants Tacaca to solve the killings in Guihulngan as these have already damaged the city’s economy.
He said he has received reports that as early as 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., most establishments are already closed and residents opt to confine themselves inside their residences.
It was noted, however, that most of the shooting incidents happened in broad daylight.
“Wala nay pili ang mga mamumuno, ma-barangay official ka man, empleyado sa gobierno, retirido nga sundalo, drug personalities ba hinoon (The killers do not spare anyone, whether it be a barangay official, a government employee, a retired soldier, or even drug personalities) who are being killed with impunity,” Degamo said.
The latest victim was a barangay captain who was shot dead over the weekend.
Virgilio Agir Masicampo Jr., 42, barangay chairman of Nagsaha, Guihulngan City, succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds after three attackers waylaid him while he was on board his motorcycle on the way to Barangay Magsaysay last Friday.
The name of Tacaca is included on the list of nominees submitted to Police Regional Office 7 for confirmation.
“Tacaca is doing his best but I need results and an assurance that he can do it, because the situation in Guihulngan City, for me, is not any more stable,” Degamo told reporters.
In an earlier interview, Guihulngan City police chief Supt. Mario Baquiran confirmed that out of more or less 70 shooting incidents this year, only 21 or so cases were filed in court.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1044738
Some of these shootings may be drug related but keep in mind that Guihulngan City has long been a significant hotbed of the communist insurgency. Maoist New People' Army assassination of military intelligence assets/informers, military retaliation, and tit for tat killings between the NPA and other breakaway communist groups in the area could help explain much of the violence.
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