SAF will stay until virus stops spreading – Ferro

Police personnel continue to man a checkpoint in Baragay Suba, Cebu City to discourage residents from leaving their homes this Saturday morning, June 27, 2020. | Gerard Francisco #CDNDigital

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Special Action Force (SAF) team will be staying in Cebu City until the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) here stops spreading.

This was the announcement of Police Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro, Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) director, this Sunday afternoon June 28, 2020, following the deployment of the SAF members in the 12 identified COVID-19 hotspot barangays in the city.

“Until we need them. Until we stop the spread of disease here in Central Visayas more particularly in Cebu City,” said Ferro.

The 108 member SAF team arrived last Friday, June 27, in the city and were based in a high school in Barangay Tisa before they were deployed in the different barangays this Sunday.

In previous reports, Police Lieutenant General Guillermo Eleazar, Joint Task Force COVID Shield chief, who is also in the city since Saturday, June 27, said that the presence of the SAF team would help in implementing the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) protocols and would make sure it would also be observed by the public.

Read: Eleazar: Police visibility is not militarization

So far, since the arrival of SAF, Ferro said that the public had somehow been compliant as there were fewer people and vehicles on the streets, which was their main goal since the beginning of reverting back to ECQ.

Ferro said that for the following days, they would make sure that those who would be violating the protocols despite the warnings would be arrested and cases would be filed against them.

He said that trucks roaming around the city would serve as the patrol which would constantly monitor the situation of each area in the city.

He also said that additional armored tanks would also be arriving in the next few days to help strengthen the patrolling police team.

All the SAF team before deployment received their personal protective equipment (PPE) said Ferro as the areas they would be assigned to were those with the most number of COVID-19 cases.

The SAF team will also be responsible for the checkpoints and manning of quarantine control points in each barangay.

Read: SAF troops to secure hotspot brgys in Cebu City