Tabuk City mayor acts to secure hi-ways from hold-uppers

By Larry T. Lopez

Sunday 16th of September 2012

TABUK CITY, Kalinga, Sept. 16 (PIA) –- Tabuk Memorandum Order 55-2012 orders the police and army to conduct sustained patrols at the area to secure travelers along the two major road entries to the city.

This order was issued stemmed from clamor of concerned residents and business groups in Tabuk who fear for more serious cases, if the problem is left unattended.

The latest hold-up incident took place along Sitio Eleb last July 31 where the suspects took cash and valuables from passengers of a Tabuk-bound passenger van from Tuguegarao between 6-7 a.m.

Later, responding police arrested two of the six suspects, which led to the surrender of the others.

Mayor Ferdinand B. Tubban ordered for deployment of combined security forces from the police detachment post in Sitio Mapaoay to Liwan West for Tabuk-Tuguegarao route and from the junction at Barangay Nambaran to Sitio Talaca for Tabuk-Isabela route.

The order also orders auxiliary peace forces or barangay tanods to help the security forces provide road safety in their respective areas.

Based on police records, these two stretches of the highways leading to Tabuk City are usually the sites of highway robberies.

Tubban admitted the road safety situation, if left unaddressed, would affect significantly the economy of Tabuk being the commercial center of the province.

“With the fast-growing trade in Tabuk, there is rapid transport of farm products from the city as well as incoming commodities and this is what we wanted to push further, the reason for us to make that move”, Tubban explained.

Moreover, there is a growing rate of mobilization among residents of Tabuk and people coming to the city, who pass through these major routes to Tuguegarao, Cagayan, and Isabela, Tubban added.

Residents and the business sector of Tabuk laud the long-desired act from the leadership of Tabuk and vowed to support the peace efforts of the city government. (LL-PIA CAR, Kalinga)