Cebu City Police Office (CCPO)
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) is all set to secure Catholic churches in Cebu City on the first day of Misa de Gallo on Monday, December 16, 2019.
With an expected influx of people going to churches to attend the first of the nine-day dawn Masses leading to the midnight Mass on the eve of Christmas, Police Colonel Geovanie Maines, officer-in-charge of CCPO, instructed the commanders of the 11 stations in the city to provide help desks near the church entrances for immediate attention to any emergency and untoward incident.
“If ever the people have problems, alam nila saan sila pupunta (they would know where to go),” said Maines.
Christmas officially commences for the Catholic faithful with the start of the nine-day Misa de Gallo on Dec. 16, 2019 even as authorities warn the public to be extra careful as lawless elements are expected to take advantage of homes left unattended. /CDN File Photo
Maines said that the security measures they are following this year are similar to those from previous year with changes of the assigned areas and added team in specific churches of deployment.
He said the police officers of each station will be divided into teams and be deployed to the churches around their area of responsibility.
To ensure the smooth flow of the security measures, Maines said he required the commanders to be present in the areas where there are more people expected.
“Ready naman yung mga tao natin (Our officers are all set),” said Maines./elb