City Mayor Constantino G. Jaraula expressed alarm over the spate of robbery cases that rocked Cagayan de Oro over the weekend even as he cautioned the association of local hotel owners to tighten their security measures in their respective establishments.
In an emergency meeting yesterday afternoon with the members of the Cagayan de Oro Hotels and Restaurants Association (COHARA) led by its president Nelia Lee, Mayor Jaraula urged the group to adopt new precautionary measures so that a similar incident will never happen again. Mayor Jaraula feared that the reported robbery incident where the perpetrators gained access to the pawnshop by making a hole on the wooden floor of an adjoining pension house, might adversely affect the image of Cagayan de Oro as a peaceful and investment-friendly city.
The city chief executive proposed to the group a precautionary measure by requiring walk-in customers and patrons in hotels, inns and motels to present their identification card (ID) with photo upon registration before allowing them to check-in.
The proposed “ID system”, according to Mayor Jaraula, will enable hotel security personnel and management personnel to easily track down or monitor suspicious characters or criminal elements posing as customers during their stay.
Another security measure proposed by the mayor include the installation of closed-circuit surveillance cameras at the hotel front desk, strict baggage inspection and alertness and vigilance by hotel personnel.
Mayor Jaraula immediately convened the group after police reports reached his office that a pawnshop and a cable company situated in Divisoria area were reportedly victimized by burglary over the weekend.
“I want you all alerted and be protected over these incidents (robberies),” Jaraula warned COHARA members who were obviously stunned upon learning from the mayor that the alleged suspects of the pawnshop robbery have stayed for five days in a room of a pension house located just below the pawnshop.
Mayor Jaraula believed that the pawnshop robbery was well-planned by perpetrators as the incident happened on Saturday evening during Night Cafe or early Sunday dawn this weekend where throngs of people flock the area thereby carrying on their heist unnoticeable by security guards or policemen.
The robbery suspects reportedly made a hole underneath the bed using sophisticated tools and devices then slipped inside the pawnshop and forcibly opened the safety deposit box, carting away over P2 Million in cash and jewelries.
“We have to improve our security system because we are dealing with sophisticated thieves,” Mayor Jaraula told hotel and restaurant owners and managers.
Police operatives and National Bureau of Investigation agents are now probing the twin robbery incidents.
Source: http://cagayandeoro.gov.ph
by Ian A. Fuentes/ city Information of Cagayan de Oro
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