While we are at the comforts of our homes at night, Cebu City policemen are out on the streets to conduct checkpoints to deter criminality and to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019. | CDND File Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Policemen, who are out on Cebu City streets at night to man checkpoints, are not only after violators of the curfew ordinance.
Police Colonel Engelbert Soriano, chief of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said that their main responsibility is to deter criminality in the city.
“I instructed the personnel to not treat the checkpoints as purely COVID-19 checkpoints. Treat it primarily as an anti-criminality checkpoint in accordance to COVID-19 preventive measures,” Soriano said in a press conference earlier today, March 17, 2020.
CCPO has been on full alert since Monday, the first day of implementation of the general community quarantine ordered by Mayor Edgardo Labella.
Read: Cebu City puts up border control as it enters ‘general community quarantine’
CCPO received an augmentation of 200 police from Regional Mobile Force Battalion, Soriano said.
But while they help ensure that Cebu City remains free of the dreaded coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Soriano said they should not also lose focus on their anti-criminality drive.
Soriano also clarified that their checkpoints are not only done at night.
As a policy, CCPO would put up two checkpoints every 12 hours to especially secure the city’s entry points.
Since the start of their checkpoints and curfew implementation on Monday, Soriano noted that there are still a lot of people who continue to roam city streets or travel at night, which is contrary to the government’s directive for them to stay at home.
To make sure that the government’s community quarantine policy is fully implemented, Soriano said they will now be stricter in ensuring compliance of the 8 p.m. curfew.
“The only way we can contain COVID-19 in Cebu City is to cooperate and heed the advice of the government to limit your movements to your respective homes,” said Soriano. / dcb