ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 8, 2008) – Police have stepped up security to protect travelers from bandits blamed for the series of highway robberies in the provinces in the southern Philippines, officials said Monday.
Bandits had killed five travelers after stopping their vehicle on a highway in Lanao del Norte province last month. A cargo truck was also held up by gunmen in Zamboanga del Sur province and numerous incidents of banditry in the past.
Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal, chief of the regional police force, ordered police chiefs in the provinces to adopt a contingency plan to prevent further escalation of highway robberies in their areas.
Senior Superintendent Reynaldo Gonzalodo, chief of the regional Highway Patrol Group, also ordered additional deployment of patrol to help in the campaign.
Gonzalodo created a task force made up of different law enforcement agencies which he said will conduct hot pursuit operation against bandits and armed gangs behind highway robberies in western Mindanao.
“We are putting up more checkpoints in strategic areas on the highways and are working closely with police forces and other law enforcement agencies in the provinces to put a stop to these nefarious activities,” he told the Mindanao Examiner. (Erico Rosco)
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