Calizo (SP file photo)
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By JOEY NACALABAN
and NITZ ARANCON
Correspondents .

THE city council’s committee on police and public safety would look into the string of narcotics operationselated killings in the city.

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This was disclosed by Councilor Romeo Calizo who hinted that police officers who took part in the operations would likely be asked for details and asked to explain why people got killed during the buy-and-bust operations.

A Camp Alagar official earlier said some 110 drug suspects were killed throughout Region 10 as a result of the police crackdown on illegal drugs. About 10, more or less, of the shooting deaths took place in Cagayan de Oro.

Supt. Surki Sereñas, Camp Alagar spokesman, said all the officers involved in the buy-and-bust operations that resulted in shooting deaths were under investigation and could end up being slapped with administrative cases.

Sereñas said Camp Alagar’s Internal Affairs Service has been tasked to conduct the investigations to determine whether or not the use of force and the shooting deaths could be justified.

It was Sereñas who revealed earlier that Camp Alagar has counted 110 deaths as a result of police operations against the illegal drug trade.

The similarities in the cases are striking. In nearly all the shooting deaths, the slain suspects had no cash except the marked money of P500, more or less, had a few sachets of suspected shabu, were armed with caliber .38 revolvers or, at times, caliber .45 pistols and/or grenades. According to the police, those killed allegedly fired shots but missed after sensing that they were dealing with undercover cops, and then got shot and killed.

Calizo said his committee would ask the police officers who took part in the operations about the circumstances surrounding the shooting deaths.

He said the committee would also ask the police why the suspects were killed and if they really had no other option to avoid the loss of lives.

“Pero gahulat pa pud ta kung unsay aksyon sa PNP headquarters,” Calizo said.

The councilor has called on the police to use body cameras whenever they conduct buy-and-bust operations so that investigators would know what really happened.

The use of body cameras, he said, would do away with suspicions of irregularities in the police operations.

“Hinoon, every time adunay mga panghitabo sama anang gakamatay panahon sa operation, aduna man dayon mig panagtagbo sa agency concerned para among maestoryahan kung naunsa to nganong namatay,” Calizo said.

Meanwhile, Supt. Sereñas said Camp Alagar’s Internal Affairs Service would submit its findings and recommendations to the police regional director after the investigations.

“Mag-recommend ang IAS kon dapat bang kasohan o dili ang mga police operative nga responsabli sa pagkamatay sa suspected drug pushers,” he said. “Ang  regional director na dayon sa PNP ang mag-decision basi sa recommendation sa IAS.”

Sereñas however said the recommendation of the IAS are usually based on the reports from the city police or provincial police’s offices.

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