Cagayan de Oro City—A traffic enforcer has died after being shot at a busy intersection by a still-unidentified suspect at the height of holiday traffic here on Friday.
Cris Cabingcas, team leader of the traffic enforcers manning the area along Guillermo and JR Borja streets around Cogon Market at 6 p.m. before the New Year, was shot three times in the back.
Cabingcas was rushed to the hospital but died at 8:20 p.m. on Saturday, Edgardo Jose Uy, chairman of the city’s Task Force Hapsay Dalan “Clear Road” in Visayan said.
“The barbaric shooting of Cabingcas, a criminal act for which the perpetrator must be brought before the bar of justice, has no place in a civilized society like Cagayan de Oro,” Uy said.
Uy believes the killing of Cabingcas is work-related, as he was part of the Roads and Traffic Administration team “playing a cat-and-mouse game with street vendors” that tried to clear the city’s roads ahead of the holidays.
The RTA had allowed vendors to occupy city sidewalks during this season, but on regular days the vendors managed to evade arrest and “take the upper hand, as the RTA is severely undermanned,” Uy added.
He also condemned a radio broadcaster, whom Uy did not name, who “has been quick in airing biased commentaries against the RTA and Cabingcas, which not only added insult to the injuries to Cabingcas, but incites lawlessness in the city.”
In a Facebook post, City Information Officer Maricel Casino-Rivera said: “To the traffic complainers, you should know that it is not easy, the work of a traffic enforcer. They risk their lives, they get hit, slapped, belittled, and now are being shot and killed.”