Police want curfew to stay in Cebu City

| Photo courtesy of CCPO

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Police Office wants to retain the curfew in the city as they observed that it helps in maintaining peace and order here.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy director for operations of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said that they observed a drop of crime incidents that happened in the city since 2020, or when the city implemented  curfew as part of their safety measures against COVID-19.

But Parilla said that should the city government order to lift the curfew, which currently is from 11 pm to 5 am, they will abide by it.

“It’s up to the mayor (Michael Rama) kung unsa ang iyaha sang gusto nga mahitabo. But for us, the PNP, we should always love nga duna gyud gihapoy curfew,” Parilla said.

(It’s up to the mayor on what he wants to be done. But for us, the PNP, we always love that there is still curfew.)

Parilla said there are some who support the curfew ordinance since they also observed that there was lesser crime with the curfew in effect.

READ: Cebu City open to lifting curfew; Rama to announce decision on Feb 24

Pending the issuance of the new executive order of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, Parilla said that they will continue to implement the city’s ‘Oplan Puyo Gihapon.’

However, he clarified that this would not be as strict as before since the city is now placed under Alert Level 2.

READ: Cebu back to Alert Level 2

If the city continues to see a drop in the number of COVID-19 cases, Parilla said that they are also set to turn over at least a hundred augmentation to the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas  (PRO-7).

They were supposedly going to turn over these personnel from the Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB-7) last January 2022 but since the city was placed under Alert Level 3 from February 1 to 15, the additional force was needed.

/bmjo

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