GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- Police units in Region 12 have, so far, arrested at least 224 wanted persons in a series of operations since last month.
Chief Insp. Aldrin Gonzales, Police Regional Office (PRO)-12 public information officer, said Tuesday the arrested personalities comprise 58 most wanted and 166 regular wanted who were charged in various courts in the region.
He said such accomplishment was based on operations conducted in just 34 days or from Jan. 5 to Feb. 8 based on records released by the PRO-12’s Regional Investigation and Detection Management Division.
The police official said the South Cotabato Police Provincial Office (SCPPO) recorded the most number of arrests for persons included in the top 10 most wanted with 17.
It was followed by Sultan Kudarat Police Provincial Office (SKPPO) and Cotabato Police Provincial Office (CPPO) with 10 each, Sarangani Police Provincial Office (SPPO) with eight, General Santos City Police Office (GSCPO) with seven and Cotabato City Police Office (CCPO) with six.
CPPO topped the number of arrests for regular wanted persons with 50, followed by GSCPO with 37, SKPPO with 29, SPPO with 25 and SCPPO with 25.
Gonzales said the most wanted persons were facing charges for major crimes such as murder, illegal drugs, robbery, homicide, theft, among others.
He said those in the regular wanted list have arrest warrants for light offenses.
Chief Supt. Marcelo Morales, Region 12 police director, said attributed the accomplishment to the stringent implementation of operation plan or “Oplan Manhunt Charlie” against wanted persons in the region.
He said the move is in support of President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s marching orders to the Philippine National Police in the campaign against criminality.
“We are currently using the full force of the law in combating criminality and illegal drugs and part of that is our intensified operations against these wanted suspects,” Morales said in a statement.
He said those who are still on the run have “nowhere to go” and their personnel would continue with the intensified operations until all of them are placed behind bars.
“This is a major breakthrough in our law enforcement operations. We accomplished this through collective efforts and support of our local communities,” he added. (PNA)
