Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO)
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Around 80 policemen are deployed to different tourist spots in Cebu Province to assist local government units and the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office personnel in ensuring safety of tourists and residents as Tropical Depression #MaringPH brings light to moderate occasional heavy rains in Cebu.
Police Colonel Engelbert Soriano, Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) director, said that these policemen had already been deployed to various spots in northern and southern areas, both coastal and mountain areas in Cebu province.
Soriano said that this was also in relation to the most recent incidents that happened in the province that cost the lives of five individuals.
Soriano was referring to incidents that occurred in Catmon town where at least three people died after they were swept away by floodwaters while swimming in Tinubdan Falls in Barangay Tabili in Catmon town in northern Cebu last September 26, 2021.
READ: Body of missing mother found on waters of Carmen town
When Tropical Depression #LanniePH hit Cebu, it left at least two casualties in the province. First was a 13-year-old girl who was drowned while swimming in the waters in Sitio Pungtod Dahunan, Barangay Perrelos, around 2 p.m. last October 4, 2021. She was found 21 hours after in Sitio Dunggoan, two to three kilometers away from where she was drowned.
READ: Body of missing 13-year-old drowning victim found 21 hours later
On the same day, at around 7:30 p.m, an Indian national, Valjinder Singh, was swept by the strong water current of Cansaga River in Sitio Latasan, Consolacion.
He was found six hours later or around 1 a.m. on October 5, 2021, on the waters of Barangay Tayud, a coastal barangay in Consolacion town, located about 250 meters away from where the incident happened in Barangay Nangka.
READ: In Consolacion, Indian national found dead 6 hours after being swept away by floodwaters
With this deployment, Soriano said he hoped that there would no longer be incidents like those mentioned to happen again as they would be keeping their visibility in both coastal and mountain areas in Cebu province.
He said the policemen would be in close coordination with the respective disaster teams of the municipalities and cities.
Among the tasks that these policmen would do is to conduct an information drive in areas, especially beaches, to not swim there yet due to the changing weather.
As of 12:50 p.m. today, October 8, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) posted an advisory on their Facebook page that Cebu, especially southern Cebu, would continue to experience light to moderate occasional heavy rains for the next two to three hours.
READ: Cloudy skies through the weekend – Pag-asa-Mactan