Cebu City policemen mount a checkpoint along S. Osmeña Road at the North Reclamation Area to insure the safety of the people of Cebu City on Friday, April 21, 2017, a day before state troops found the fleeing Abu Sayyaf Group members in Clarin, Bohol, leading to a firefight that resulted to the death of four ASG members.(CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Like in Cebu City, Noble said random checkpoints are conducted in key areas in the province to prevent the possible entry of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).
He said CPPO is also coordinating with all the barangay captains to inform the police whenever they notice suspicious-looking persons or unusual events.
“This is part of what we call feedback mechanism. We have to continue implementing our security plans,” Noble said.
And even if reports may turn out to be false, Noble said the public just have to keep reporting.
“It is the job of the police to verify whatever information that will be forwarded to us,” he said.
Senior Supt. Joel Doria, director of the Cebu City Police Office, said policemen are also assigned in the different ports and coasts in the city to stop terrorists from entering the Queen City of the South.
Doria said they particularly keep an eye on the Pasil Fish Port in the coastal village of Pasil where there are daily sea trips to the municipalities of Inabanga and Clarin in Bohol.
He said policemen will inspect and profile passengers leaving and arriving at the port as part of the safety precautionary measures.
Doria said he also alerted all the barangay tanods and the Barangay Intelligence Network to help the police in ensuring peace and order in the city.
“We have to be vigilant. Know who your neighbors are,” he said.
For now, Doria said they have not monitored the presence of ASG members in the city and province of Cebu.
“Walang dapat ipag-alala ang ating mga kababayan. In place ang ating security plan but we should be vigilant. (People have nothing much to worry.
Our security plan is in place. We just have to be vigilant),” he said.
Capt. Jojo Mascariñas, spokesperson of the 302nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army in the forefront of the hunt for the ASG in Bohol,
reiterated that the members of the bandit group who entered Bohol last week have not left the island.
“They have not crossed to Cebu. Cebu is actually safe,” he said in a phone interview on Saturday afternoon.
“I hope what is happening now serves as a lesson to other Abu Sayyaf members,” he added.
Government troopers yesterday engaged the remaining members of the ASG in a shootout that led to the death of Joselito Melloria who served as the guide of the bandits in Bohol.
Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas, confirmed at 3 p.m. yesterday Melloria’s death but did not give further details.
“Ongoing pa (the operations) (The operations are still ongoing),” he said in a text message to CDN.