The Taguig police have augmented security patrols along the C-5 road following reports of vehicles being stoned.

Taguig police chief Senior Supt. Camilo Cascolan said additional policemen were deployed to busy areas on C-5, including the Waterfun near MRT Avenue, the northbound C5-tollgate, the Centennial Village, Commando bridge in Palar, and the Sampaguita bridge.

Cascolan said the deployment was meant to increase police visibility all along the C-5 road and to improve response time to emergency calls.

Reports of motorists being stoned are being forwarded through e-mails, he said.

He said that aside from the 24-hour mobile patrols, police intelligence units and barangay security personnel will help secure the C-5 road.

Cascolan said there appears to be an organized effort to picture the C-5 road as dangerous to motorists.

But he said the police will not take the reports of stoning lightly “since the safety and security of the commuting public is at stake,” he said.

He said one of the stoning incidents being forwarded through the e-mails was reported last June 12 about a motorist who stopped at a Petron gas station near Diego Silang in Barangay Ususan.

The motorist told gas attendants his car, which had a broken window, had just been stoned along C-5.

Cascolan said this incident was reported to the police who went to investigate but the motorist had left in hurry when the patrol arrived.

City officials said stoning incidents have been going on in the area since 2002 when there were still no street lights there.

Councilor Erwin Manalili, committee chairman on peace and order, said they immediately coordinated with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation for the installation of street lights to ensure the safety of motorists.

Manalili said that since then no stoning incidents have been reported. But he said they were verifying reports of a group using the stoning incidents to make it appear there is a breakdown of peace and security in the city.

Mayor Sigfrido Tinga has called on residents and motorists passing through the area to remain vigilant so as not to fall prey to bad elements seeking to sow chaos in the city.