Unpaid P8 million power bill mars inquiry on General Santos City killings

Gunmen riding in tandem on a motorcycle shot and killed 57-year-old Avelino Tado, a bodyguard of a local trader, on a rainy evening in General Santos City on Friday, July 16.

The attack was the latest in a series of shootings carried out by killers who have yet to be identified by the General Santos police.

The vigilante-style killings have become a common occurrence in the city that Tado, who was killed in the village of Calumpang, has been reduced to a mere statistic in the city’s growing list of shooting victims.

Tado was on his way home on a motorcycle when he was shot in the same way a retired Army colonel, a lady business executive, a lady online seller, and even a car washer were on separate occasions recently.

His killing came three days after the City Council summoned General Santos’s police director to answer questions about the series of shooting deaths in the city.

What was supposed to be an official inquiry on killings in General Santos City, however, turned into a public discussion about the unpaid electric bills of the General Santos City Police Office (GSCPO), which have been piling up since 2015.

The police chief, Colonel Gilberto Tuzon, told the City Council his biggest problem now was regarding how the GSCPO could pay the P8 million in electric bills with the South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative (SOCOTECO II). This was a debt that piled up for several years.

Tuzon said the burden was passed on to him by former GSCPO police director Colonel Aden Lagradante who also inherited the problem from their predecessors.

The bills were for the power consumption of the GSCPO’s Camp Fermin Lira and the city’s eight police stations.

Tuzon said he was worried after being told by colleagues that the unpaid power bills – and not the series of shooting deaths – would cost him his GSCPO job.

He told councilors that he “merely inherited the problem from his predecessors,” and that the previous city police chief already brought the matter to the City Council’s attention.

But by Tuzon’s own admission, about half of what the GSCPO owes SOCOTECO II now was incurred under his watch as accumulated arrears with penalty costs and compounded surcharges.

Tuzon assumed as city police director only on September 16, 2020.

During the deliberations, Councilor Edmar Yumang, chair of the City Council’s committee on public order and safety, said the local government already committed an initial P4 million to help pay the bills.

Lagradante, who is now assigned in Luzon, said the problem was that there were many law enforcement units not under the GSCPO that were sharing Camp Fermin Lira’s electric meter.

The problem, he said, could easily be solved by simply requiring the other units to have their own electric meters.

Why Lagradante’s proposed simple solution was not done during his or Tuzon’s watch remained unclear.

But the GSCPO’s power bills served as a distraction during the City Council session which was meant to tackle the problem of shooting deaths blamed on suspected vigilantes.

Tuzon told the City Council that the number of shootings carried out by riding-in-tandem gunmen was significantly lower since he assumed the city police director post.

He said records showed there were 52 shooting incidents in the city from September 16, 2020, to July 11, 2021, about 30% lower compared to 68 shooting incidents during the same period during Lagradante’s watch.

Of the 52 cases, 38 were documented from January 1 to July 11, this year. Of the number, 17 were classified as homicide, seven as murder, six as frustrated homicide, five as frustrated murder, two as serious physical injuries, and one attempted murder.

Mayor Ronnel Rivera expressed dismay about the series of killings in the city, saying, “We are not happy with this at all.”

He ordered the police to shape up and further work to stop the killings, go after those responsible, and to bring them to justice. – Rappler.com