SOON, soldiers will be roaming the streets of Cebu City to help the police in providing visibility of law enforcement in public places.
After the approval by the Cebu City Council of the resolution asking the Armed Forces of the Philippines to provide uniformed military personnel to assist the police in maintaining safety, the AFP expressed its willingness to assist the PNP.
Councilor Dave Tumulak explained, “Our main objective here is to increase peace and order in our city especially that we are enforcing curfew and anti-illegal drugs operations. We really need the military because the police are busy in running after drug pushers and users. We need them in streets to maintain safety.”
After receiving several calls expressing concern, Tumulak clarified that the purpose of the police visibility was not “militarization” but to intensify the safety and security of the public with the extensive fight against crime and drugs.
The AFP will coordinate with the Local Government Units (LGU), barangays and police stations.
They are now considering a joint presence of AFP and PNP personnel in checkpoints, public areas like parks, public transportation terminals and the ports.
The soldiers will be prohibited from bringing long firearms.
During the initial meeting with the AFP and the PNP, the police raised their concern not to allow the soldiers to bring long firearms like armalites so as not to cause panic.