A portion of the Katipunan Street in Barangay Labangon, Cebu City has been closed while policemen continue to monitor those going out of their houses on Thursday, June 25, 2020 with Cebu City going ECQ for a couple of days now. | Gerard Vincent Francisco
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) on Thursday, June 25, announced that they noted a drop in the number of ECQ or enhanced community quarantine violators since public officials decided to scrap the quarantine passes.
Data from the CCPO showed that they had arrested 72 ECQ violators from Wednesday evening (June 24) to Thursday morning (June 25). It was a big decline compared to the 364 individuals caught from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
Read more: Cancellation of quarantine passes in Cebu City a ‘good move,’ Palace says
Before the suspension of ECQ passes took effect at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23, the CCPO apprehended 677 violators since June 15.
“It is true that we have observed a decline in the number of violators a few hours after it was decided that quarantine passes will no longer be honored,” said Police Colonel Cydric Earl Tamayo, acting CCPO director.
Tamayo also said the augmentation forces sent by the higher-ups of the Philippine National Police (PNP) contributed to the drop in the number of violators they caught.
However, the CCPO official said the volume of vehicles plying on the streets had not decreased despite the recent changes in the city’s ECQ protocols.
“While the number of people roaming the streets has lessened, the volume of cars stayed the same,” Tamayo said in Cebuano.
He added that several government agencies would also be conducting an evaluation of how residents were complying with the quarantine protocols being imposed.
Read more: More forces coming to Cebu City to implement ‘total lockdown’—Cimatu
The PNP on Thursday also announced they would be sending additional law enforcers, this time from the elite-team of the Special Action Force (SAF), to help Cebu City police enforce the ECQ.
Tamayo admitted that the CCPO lacked the manpower to ensure that quarantine protocols were being strictly followed in all parts of the city, which is tagged as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epicenter in Central Visayas. /dbs