LINGAYEN – The police in Pangasinan expects that not town or city will be added even till election time to the three places in the province already listed as “areas of immediate concern (AICs)” in the coming May political exercise.

Police Provincial Director Senior Superintendent Isagani Nerez said he is optimistic that even with the heightened excitement of the people on the local election, the province will be peaceful and orderly.

So far, only the towns of Tayug, Natividad and San Carlos City have been listed as AICs in Pangasinan.

Nerez declared that the gun slaying of a son of a councilor of Urdaneta City two weeks ago does not warrant the inclusion of the place in the list of AIC.

A task Force Parayno formed by Nerez and headed by Deputy Provincial Director for operations Ricardo Zapata is now thoroughly investigating the case and has so far tagged suspects whose names could not be revealed yet.

Although the father of the victim, Councilor Julio Parayno, was saying the killing of his son Rene, 43, was politically-motivated, it is not a sufficient basis to place Urdaneta City under AIC, Nerez explained.

The family of the victim as well as their friends and conduits of the police initially put up a P500,000 reward to be given to any one who can furnish valuable information that could lead to the arrest of the killers and the mastermind.

This was reportedly boosted by another P500,000 offered by businessman Rosendo So, president of the Eastern Pangasinan Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

At the same time, Nerez ordered the conduct of intensified checkpoints to prevent movements of firearms by persons or groups now that the deadline for the filing of candidates for local positions is already nearing.

The “no plate, no travel” policy for motorcycles has likewise been intensified as there were reports that guns-for-hire were moving in tandem aboard motorcycles without any plate number.

Pangasinan was recently tagged by the Police Regional Office headed by Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil as the province with the most number of firearms seized due to the strict enforcement of the Comelec gun ban. (PNA)