The Cagayan de Oro City Police Office headquarters. (File photo by Nef Luczon)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The peace and order situation in the city remains manageable and far from "alarming" as a university here has claimed, authorities said Friday
In a statement, Lt. Col. Surki Sereñas, Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (COCPO) deputy director for operations, urged the public to "be circumspect in their statements while authorities endeavor to synergize appropriate interventions to the present situation."
"We invite our fellow Kagay-anons to get the facts straight before making generalizations. Cagayan de Oro City is still a peaceful place," Sereñas said.
The statement was in response to the memorandum issued by Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan (XU) to its faculty and staff that it will revert to online classes from 4:30 p.m. onwards from Sept. 1 to 9 due to "alarming criminal cases."
The memo, signed by Dr. Juliet Dalagan, XU vice president for higher education, said on-site classes will resume "based on the objective evaluation of the situation."
The school memo is believed to have stemmed from the Aug. 31 night stabbing along Hayes Street, which is just beside the XU property, and around 200 meters from the COCPO main headquarters in Barangay 40.
Sereñas said the suspect, Jesus Delit, 45, is being pursued by police operatives with the cooperation of the suspect's family.
"The incident is considered isolated, arising from a misunderstanding between two 'habal-habal' (motorcycle taxi) drivers gone violent," he said.
Since mid-July, Sereñas said COCPO's Project "Amplified Anti-Criminality Recorida for Orderly Neighborhood (Aaron)” has resulted in the decline in the crime rate.
He said the crime rate has dropped to an average of seven crimes weekly for August alone, with the lowest figures of three crimes reported for a week.
Police data showed that from January 1 to July 9, the city had an average of 10 crimes daily.
In a separate statement, Ben Cyrus Ellorin, overseer of the City Mayor's Office Communications Group, assured that peace and order are on top of Mayor Rolando Uy's governance agenda. (PNA)
