Commuters wearing face masks and face shields wait for their rides just outside the Cebu South Bust Terminal in Cebu City. CDN Digital photo | Brian J. Ochoa
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City policemen will be deployed outside the South Bus Terminal to help Cebu province policemen ensure that outgoing buses will no longer pick up passengers there and to ensure that the buses would only have passengers within the agreed capacity.
This after Governor Gwen Garcia expressed her concern in a meeting last Thursday, August 12, with Police Lieutenant Colonel Clark Ariola, chief of the Traffic Enforcement Unit of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO).
Garcia said she was concerned about those passengers who preferred to wait outside the South Bus Terminal to ride a bus, which the terminal personnel could no longer monitor.
She also raised her concern about bus drivers and conductors who would still fetch passengers even beyond their allowed passenger capacity.
With this, Parilla of the CCPO said that some personnel from the Mobile Patrol Unit (MPU), a traffic policeman, and a traffic enforcer from the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) will monitor buses that will fetch passengers in a no stopping area, and passengers who will no longer follow social distancing while waiting for a ride within the city’s jurisdiction.
Parilla said that the city policemen would continue to coordinate with the provincial police to make sure that bus drivers and conductors comply with the established passenger capacity.
The CCPO deputy director for operations also said that there would be regular monitoring from N. Bacalso Avenue to the entry in Talisay City to ensure compliance of bus drivers and conductors.
Should there be violators in this instance, they will also be slapped with penalties for violating health protocols in the city.
Recently, Police Colonel Engelbert Soriano said that a possible cause for the increase in COVID-19 cases in the province might be from those riding the transportation, especially those who would go home in the province.
With this, every police station in municipalities will also conduct random inspections of buses and V-hires in their respective jurisdictions to ensure that passengers follow health protocols.
In their implementation of strict monitoring and inspection of Public Utility Vehicles (PUVs) in Cebu City, Parilla initially assessed that commuters and drivers were mostly compliant.
However, there were still others, who failed to follow health protocols.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Devaras, deputy director for administration of CCPO, said during their meeting with the city government earlier, that for the past two days, they still had many apprehensions.
Last August 11, they have recorded 272 violators, 228 were adults and 44 were minors. On August 12, there were 267 violators where 219 were adults and 38 were rescued minors. Majority of the violations fall on the failure to follow curfew and not wearing of face masks.
Parilla, for his part, said that most violations happen during peak hours for both morning, around 7:00 a.m. and afternoon, at past 6:00 p.m.
Parilla also said that they are still waiting for the orders from the city government if there would be adjustments in their safety measures since Cebu City’s modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) status is extended until August 31.
Earlier today, August 13, Cebu City Acting Mayor Michael Rama also called city police to impose police deployment in all areas to ensure that health protocols would be strictly observed.
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