Wekaf Hawaii president GM Robert Garcia (seated, left most) together with other Wekaf Hawaii officials join SGM Dionisio Cañete (standing, third from right), PSC commissioner Ramon Fernandez (seated, right most) and CCSC commissioner Allan Delantar (seated, second from right) in a press launching of the Wekaf World Championships at the Boosog Lasang Pinoy restaurant last Thursday evening. (CDN PHOTO/ GLENDALE ROSAL)
There is no intel report yet of an impending security threat to the upcoming Cobra IronMan 70.3 race here on August 6, the police said yesterday.
That doesn’t mean, however, that they will let their guards down when Cebu rolls the red carpet for thousands of triathletes including scores of foreign entries.
Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Senior Superintendent Joel Doria said that police forces in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Talisay will be on high alert on race day, as they do not want to take risks despite receiving no security threat for the event.
“Mahirap naman pag nasingitan tayo. ‘Yung mga police natin at nandyan din yung SWAT. Definitely, area and route security, ipo-provide natin yan,” assured Doria. (It would be hard if we get blindsided. We will definitely provide area and route security with our policemen and the SWAT).
Doria is confident that the Cebu City part will be well-covered considering that the race has been held in the city before.
As to how many policemen will be deployed to man and secure the bike route as well as the number of assistance desks to be installed, Doria could not ascertain.
The Cobra IronMan 70.3 consists of three events: swimming, biking and running. However, only the biking phase will pass through Mandaue City, Cebu City and Talisay City.
It will start and finish at the Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City, where the swimming and running events will also be held.
Meanwhile, the Mandaue City Police Office will deploy 132 personnel to secure the route and man assistance desks. PO1 Joselito Manganohoy said that the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue will implement road closures and rerouting to address traffic congestion on race day.
Talisay City police, on the other hand, will deploy non-uniformed personnel to provide crowd safety with police assistance desks to be put up from Lapu-Lapu City down to Talisay City.