CEBU CITY, Philippines — There will be more police presence in financial institutions such as banks to deter criminals from taking advantage of the public, withdrawing cash in these institutions to spend for the holidays.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy director for operations of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said that they would have a standby police mobile or police personnel deployed to secure these institutions.
Parilla said that they were expecting many individuals going to various financial institutions or Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) of various banks to withdraw money to use for their Christmas celebrations.
He said that with this, they were also anticipating criminals to also take advantage of this occasion, saying that they had already recorded theft incidents involving “Salisi Gangs” last week in some malls in the city.
Parilla, however, did not elaborate on this.
Police Colonel Josefino Ligan, CCPO director, for his part, said that he had already instructed all 11 police station chiefs in Cebu City to coordinate with the security officers of all malls here so that the police could easily get access to security cameras, which would be needed for a fast investigation.
Parilla said quick access to security cameras would also hasten the police response to the incident, and quickly conduct followup operation to arrest the possible suspects.
He also warned the public of the presence of members of gangs in Cebu City, who were tagged as responsible for theft and robbery incidents during the holiday season.
He encouraged them to be vigilant, especially when they would withdraw money from ATM machines.
Parilla also reminds the public to be cutious when walking on the street, especially if they have money with them.
He said they were finalizing plans on how to maximize their forces since they would also have to secure the Misa de Gallo starting December 16.
The CCPO has only 1080 policemen.
Despite this, Parilla assured that they would surely intensify police presence on the streets and in areas near financial institutions to deter crimes from happening in these areas.
RELATED STORIES
CCPO chief taking steps to prevent thefts, robberies in Cebu City
Cebu churches told to keep Misa de Gallo capacity at 50% maximum