Police check vehicles along Osmeña Boulevard in Cebu City in this photo taken on June 15, 2020, the first day the city was reverted to ECQ. | CDN file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines—The suspension of the quarantine passes may have been a shock to many in Cebu City but this was done for a valid reason.
“The reason for this new protocol is because Qpasses became unaccountable and were exploited. This is because there were still a lot of people going despite our ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) status,” said Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) officer-in-charge Police Colonel Cydric Earl Tamayo.
Police Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro, director of Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), announced on Tuesday evening, June 23, 2020, the suspension of quarantine passes issued by the Cebu City government.
While a lot were surprised with this development, Tamayo asked the public to remain calm, saying this will only take effect while the city government is still validating quarantine passes to make sure that they won’t be abused by the public.
“Let’s just follow all the implemented guidelines of our police officers. Follow the protocols because this just may be temporary, since the government won’t allow its people to go hungry,” Tamayo said.
He said that as of now the Cebu City Police are still waiting for updates from the Cebu City Government regarding the validation of these suspended quarantine passes and as to when new quarantine passes will be released.
“Let’s just show them that we can follow the protocols. So that when they will evaluate us they can see that we did our part in compliance,” he added. /bmjo