BAGUIO CITY – The Summer Capital is still a safe place to live, study, work and do business.

No Less than Lt. Col. John Cayat Jr., deputy city director of the Baguio City Police Office, made the claims amidst the highly publicized news on a naked body of dead woman that was dumped in a garage of a residence in barangay Alfonso Tabora early Tuesday morning (Aug. 30).

Cayat said the incident was isolated one and that the public should not come up with speculations that might cause further confusion since it is still the subject of an in-depth police investigation.

As tourism is the major lifeblood of the Baguio economy, Cayat said the public must also refrain from sharing unverified reports and insinuations on the case posted in the social media to avoid sowing fear among the residents and tourists.

Cayat nevertheless assured that the BCPO is pooling all its resources to identify the culprit behind the incident.

Police Visibility

Cayat said police visibility will be increased in strategic areas around the city as part of its peacekeeping and anti-criminality initiatives, especially with the resumption of in-person classes in private and public educational institutions.

The move is one of the marching orders of Philippine National Police Chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin, Jr. and regional director BGen. Mafelino Bazar to deter the commission of crimes in their respective areas of jurisdiction and to guarantee the safety of the public.

He said that based on the initial assessment that was done for the first week of in person classes that paved the way for the significant movement of people, the traffic situation, especially in roads leading to school zones, has improved primarily because of the police visibility and more importantly the cooperation of the public to the implementation of traffic rules and regulations.

No record of kidnapping incident

Cayat also cited that there is no record of any kidnapping incident in Baguio City thus far despite persistent rumors of syndicate roaming around the streets and snatching people allegedly for prostitution or organ harvesting which are spread in social media.

“As earlier confirmed by our BCPO Director Col. Glenn Lonogan, there were no reported incidents so far. With numerous CCTVs installed all over the city that help the city police in crime monitoring, such incidents would not have been missed,” Cayat said.

He said those reported missing had safely returned home and the incidents turned out to be just cases of juvenile delinquency or truancy.

“Hindi lamang po nakapagpaalam o hindi nakauwi sa sinabing oras o araw ang mga batang nareport na missing,” said Cayat.

Cayat reiterated his appeal to the public not to share the same in social media as it would add up to the confusion of the people.

He clarified that the reported presence of different colors of vans that are allegedly involved in the kidnapping of children, mostly girls from the various schools in the city, is also not true because there are no kidnapping incidents that were reported to have transpired in the city.

He urged the public to be responsible social media users by not sharing posts that could sow fear among the people but instead learn to report the matter to the nearest police station so that appropriate actions would be done to prevent the occurrence of incidents that might pose a serious threat to the law and order in the city.