DAVAO CITY -- The Cotabato Provincial Police Office has assured the public that the situation in Pikit, North Cotabato is still manageable amid the series of shooting incidents that left two minors dead and three others wounded in a span of two days.
Due to these series of shooting incidents, CPPO director Police Col. Harold Ramos said that combined police and military forces have beefed up their security measures in the municipality.
Ramos added they have intensified police checkpoints in all entry and exit points of Pikit.
On February 14, a 13-year old high school student was gunned down while he was walking with his fellow students on their way home.
Police identified the lone fatality as Fahad Dilabuan Guiamalon while those injured were identified as Jenuar Abdul, 13, and Marjan Amerol Iskak 14.
On February 16, a 16-year old boy was shot by still unidentified assailants while sitting inside their store in Barangay Fort Pikit.
Earlier on the same day, a 42-year old farmer identified as Lopez Guiama was shot by riding-in-tandem suspects while transporting a sack of cement.
Guiama, who sustained a gunshot wound on his arm and neck, is now recuperating in a local hospital.
The police officer admitted that maintaining the peace and order in Pikit is generally challenging given its geographic location.
“Isa rin sa malaking problema dito ay ang proliferation of loose firearms in the area (One big problem here is the proliferation of loose firearms in the area),” Ramos said over the phone.
The town has 42 barangays and 22 of them are now part of Special Geographic Area (SGA) of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). The town shares its boundary with the towns of Datu Montawal and Pagalungan in Maguindanao del Sur and Aleosan and Carmen towns in North Cotabato.
Pikit is also one of the gateways to the 220,000-hectare Ligawasan Marsh, which had been a known getaway area of lawless elements groups operating in Central Mindanao.
But Ramos emphasized that the CPPO is now working closely with the security forces under the Bangsamoro government to resolve the killings that mostly took place in the villages under the SGA.
The incident on Feb. 14 has prompted Pikit Mayor Sumulong Sultan to cancel all classes in all government and private schools in the municipality from Feb. 15 to Feb. 17.
Since September last year, about 30 persons have been killed in the series of shooting incidents.
But Ramos assured that the local police is doing its best to resolve the cases.
“Isa sa mga tinitingnan namin dito ay ang mga rido or family feud bilang motibo ng mga pamamril (One possibility we are looking at is rido or family feud as motive in the shooting),” Ramos.
On Feb. 16, the local government in Pikit posted the CCTV screenshots of the suspects of the recent shootings. The officials have been urging their constituents to cooperate with the local police to help resolve the shooting incidents in the area.