PRO-7 deploys admin cops for ‘point-to-point patrolling’

Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare, PRO-7 spokesperson. | file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Around 188 police personnel assigned with administrative duties at Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) have now been required to render patrolling duties in strategic areas in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu to augment efforts for crime deterrence.

In a news forum on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, Police Lt. Col. Gerard Ace Pelare, the spokesperson of Police Regional Office Central Visayas Director Brigadier General Anthony Aberin, said this directive from Aberin was effective since Monday, May 15.

“Si Director General Aberin nag mando nga ang mga administrative police personnel assigned in the regional office, gipanaog para magpatrol. [The] instruction sa regional director is mag a-lot og time of the day nga mag patrol sila para ma augment pod nato ang mga patrollers sa Cebu city, Lapu-Lapu ug Mandaue,” Pelare said.

Pelare said this intervention is an augmentation to the urban patrolling program the police implemented last year, where the City Mobile Force Company (CMFC) unit of the police designed to combat insurgency was deployed to highly urbanized cities to conduct patrolling and increase police visibility in areas of convergence and areas considered crime-prone.

He claimed that although these officers were currently tasked with administrative duties, they had prior experience and capabilities to conduct patrol duties.

READ: Urban patrolling of cops in Lapu-Lapu’s crime prone areas starts

Shooting incidents

Meanwhile, based on PRO-7’s inventory of shooting incidents, the office logged a total of 157 shooting incidents from January 1 up to the present, across Central Visayas.

The majority of which are recorded in Cebu City, Pelare said.

READ MORE: Flower vendor shot dead in front of Carreta cemetery in broad daylight

He, however, said that 87 percent of these crimes are already tagged as “solved or cleared.”

Crimes marked as solved are those in which the offenders were quickly arrested and a case was filed, whereas crimes tagged as cleared are those in which suspects have yet to be arrested, but had been identified and charges had been filed.

He said around 13 percent or only 20 of these incidents are still under investigation.

‘Central Visayas remains safe’

Pelare, however, assured that Central Visayas remains peaceful and safe.

He said these shooting incidents are “clearly isolated.”

“Walay indiscriminate nga paghimo [og killing] nga bisan kinsa nalang that would allow us to conclude nga chaotic ang atong lugar. Tan-awon nato individually ning mga shooting incidents. The general public should not be worried,” he said.

“Ang determinant ana is we can freely loiter at night,” he added.

In terms of criminality records, he said, they noted a decline of four percent in the number of crimes, such as theft and robbery, recorded during the first quarter of this year compared to last year.

/bmjo