PRO-7 expecting influx of vehicles in towns, cities of Cebu Province

Traffic Situation at the boundary of Minglanilla and Talisay City. The line of vehicles trying to get pass through Minglanilla’s checkpoints have reached the end of Barangay Lawaan, Talisay City as of 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 18, 2020

CEBU CITY, Philippines— The Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) is expecting an influx of vehicles in the towns and cities under Cebu Province starting Wednesday, May 20, 2020.

PRO-7 director Police Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro said in a video conference with the media on Wednesday morning, that it is expected that more vehicles will be out since the province shifted to general community quarantine (GCQ) since 12:01 a.m. of Wednesday.

Read: ‘Minimum’ safety protocols in place as Cebu shifts to GCQ

Even with the influx, Ferro is confident that they will still be able to manage and control the movement of the people, especially those involved in illegal transactions, as they will still be implementing strict border control protocols.

“We’ll be expecting the influx of the vehicles but there’s a flexibility arrangement from the task force commander,” Ferro said.

And as of Wednesday afternoon, the police have not received any reports of problems since the shift from enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to GCQ.

Meanwhile, since the strict implementation of the border controls around the region and especially in towns, crime rates went down because of the limited movement by the people.

“Ang crime volume natin, as compared to the pre-ECQ period meaning January 13 of this year to March 16, 2020, ang atong number of crimes were 1,668 tapos during the ECQ period from March 17-May 19, ang atong crime volume is 660,” he said.

(Our crime volume compared to the pre-ECQ period, meaning January 13 of this year to March 16, we have recorded 1,668 crime incidents, and during the ECQ period, from March 17-May 19, we only recorded 660 crime incidents.)

This means that the entire Central Visayas has a decrease of 1,000 crime incidents within the ECQ period.

Ferro said they plan to maintain the border checkpoints even after the Covid crisis to maintain the peace and order in the communities.

The independent cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, and Mandaue are not under Cebu Province. Cebu City and Mandaue City remain under ECQ while Lapu-Lapu has also downgraded to GCQ. /bmjo