CPPO Director Engelbert Soriano. | CDN Digital photo
MANDAUE CITY, Cebu — A day after Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia issued a stern warning to the chief of police (COPs) in the province who were reportedly not conducting checkpoints, the top official of the Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) said all its stations would now be putting up checkpoints 24/7 at their respective areas of responsibility.
Soriano said there was a bit of confusion recently, saying that they were then doing dictated checkpoints, or in a pre-determined time and place, so as not to burden the public transport groups.
“Actually, nagkaroon lang ng confusion kasi we were doing dictated checkpoints in all stations… Kasi we do not want to burden the public transport groups, yung ma-delay yung travel time nila,” he said.
(Actually, there was a bit of confusion because we were doing dictated checkpoints in all stations… Because we do not want to burden the public transport groups. The one that will delay their travel time.)
But with the clarification of the governor during their coordination meeting with the operators of buses including minibuses and premium taxis on Thursday, August 12, 2021, to strictly enforce the implementation of protocols, Soriano said they adjusted immediately, where all the 50 police stations would now be conducting 24-hour daily checkpoints.
During the meeting, it was raised that the Sugbo News team who reportedly came from the town of San Remigio in northern Cebu, had noticed that only Sogod town police were conducting a checkpoint, while they were heading back to Cebu City on Wednesday evening, August 11.
Garcia then told Soriano to echo her warning to the chiefs of police that she would be the one to inspect the stations to confirm whether they were indeed conducting checkpoints or not.
“So if it has to take me to go to every police station that has not set up a checkpoint, I will do it. Please sound off that warning to your COPs,” Garcia told Soriano.
The meeting was also attended by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Central Visayas (LTFRB-7) Director Eduardo Montealto Jr., Land Transportation Office in Central Visayas (LTO-7) Director Victor Caindec, Cebu City Councilor James Cuenco, and Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) public information officer Clark Arriola.
The CPPO was directed to enforce checkpoints so as to ensure the compliance of the public utility vehicles (PUVs) plying provincial routes concerning the new regulation particularly to buses and minibuses to pass through either in the north or south bus terminals.
Apart from inspecting their trip tickets which will be issued when exiting the terminal, police are also tasked to ensure that these buses and other PUVs are not overloading passengers and observing other health protocols.
Starting Monday, August 16, they will include inspecting the personal air purifiers, which are required to be used by PUV drivers and conductors when plying provincial routes.
As of Thursday midnight, August 11, the CPPO reported a total of 19 PUVs, which were issued with Temporary Operator’s Permit (TOPs), majority of which were buses caught overloading passengers and without trip tickets. Taxis were also caught overloading of passengers while its windows were fully closed.
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