By Cherrie Anne E. Villahermosa
Variety News Staff

DESPITE the lack of manpower and financial resources, the Department of Public Safety is optimistic that it will solve major crimes in this new year.
Criminal Investigation Bureau Chief Capt. Lawrence Camacho said their priority right now is the homicide case and the copper wire thefts.
DPS noted a rise of copper wire thefts in 2006 and Camacho said detectives were already working on these crimes when a homicide happened in November.
Camacho said they have to drop the other cases in order to prioritize the homicide.
He said the homicide case is “very critical,” adding that he can’t disclose any updates about it.
“All I can say is that we’re still working on it right now. I can’t confirm nor deny any information,” Camacho said.
The murder of Bao Ying Chen, 41 was the fourth homicide for 2006.
The suspect for the three other homicide cases was killed by a responding police officer in Feb. 2006.
DPS said the previous year was full of progress despite its limited resources.
Camacho earlier said that DPS, which has only 21 detectives, received a total of 12,000 complaints in 2006.