Police Lieutenant Colonel Janette Rafter, Deputy Director for Operations of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO)
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) will be deploying around 800 police personnel to secure the observance of Kalag-Kalag 2023 right after the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.
Police Lt. Col. Janette Rafter, CCPO deputy city director for operations, told reporters that in anticipation of the second big event after the elections on October 30, they were ready to deploy uniformed personnel in every area to ensure peace and order.
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Barangay and SK election, All Souls’ Day, All Saints’ Day
The Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections will be taking place on October 30.
Meanwhile, two other previously declared holidays, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day on November 1 and 2, respectively, will also land after the election.
In anticipation of these two events, Rafter said that police officers in Cebu City were encouraged to extend their performance to their security duties to ensure the public’s safety.
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Cebu City Police Office deployment plan
According to Rafter, their deployment plan for November 1 and 2 has been decided and ready for implementation.
“Sa atong Kalag-Kalag, naa na pud tay deployment plan. Kini man gung Kalag-Kalag, templated na na siya nato kay it has been a recurring [event] gyud every year,” she said.
(For our Kalag Kalag, we already have our deployment plan. This All Souls’ Day, it is already templated because it has been a recurring [event] every year.)
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Cemeteries to be monitored next
Rafter said that right after their duty during the day of the election, the uniformed personnel would also be deployed to monitor cemeteries and areas where people would gather for Kalag-Kalag.
She also said that particularly because this year’s election would be utilizing manual counting, they would be anticipating that the activity would extend for one day and would be finished on the dawn of Tuesday, October 31.
However, Rafter said that they had already made adjustments on their deployment plan in consideration of this possibility.
“We already considered that in the preparation of our deployment plan for the election kay magsunod-sunod ang mga bug-at nga mga aktibidades sa atoang nasud,” stated Rafter.
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Adjustments made
(We already considered that in the preparation of our deployment plan for the election because heavy activities of our country are following one after the other.)
She said that the police personnel, who would not be tasked to perform election-related duties, would be deployed first to monitor cemeteries in the city during Kalag-Kalag.
“Katong mga wala kaayo na duty sa atoang mga polling places, or actually performing election duty like nadeploy sa mga polling places, mao ni ang atong unahon nga pag duty on the 31,” she said.
(Those who have fewer duties in our polling places or actually performing election duty while being deployed to polling places, that is what we will handle first on 31.)
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Force multipliers
Aside from the 800 personnel from the Philippine National Police (PNP), the police are also encourage force multipliers in Cebu City to lend a hand in their efforts to maintain peace and order.
“We are also encouraging all the force multipliers to help us especailly on the Kalag-Kalag kay ang atong mga kapulisan niana, naay gibuhat pud nga mga election duties. But again, we are not discounting the deployment or the security for the Kalag-Kalag,” said Rafter.
(We are also encouraging all the force multipliers to help us especially on the Kalag-Kalag because our police at that time, have election duties. But again, we are not discounting the deployment or the security for the Kalag-Kalag.)
So far, the CCPO has not monitored any disturbances that could potentially affect the observance of Kalag-Kalag in two weeks, according to Rafter.
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Public told don’t be complacent
Despite this, Rafter warned the public to not be complacent and to always be alert of their surroundings to avoid being victimized by criminals.
“But again, we cannot rely on that information. So we are encouraging the community, in general the public nga let us always be vigilant,” she said.
Rafter also reminded the public to be careful if they would be leaving their houses during the long weekend and to always secure their houses.
She said that because October 30-November 2, had been declared as holidays, many individuals would be going out to spend time elsewhere like the beach and malls.
Safety first
“I would like to remind everybody to be very cautious gyud (very cautious) and be safe. Let us consider safety first gyud sa atong paglakaw diha (safety first when we leave the house),” said Rafter.
She added that residents should also not forget to lock their houses to avoid being victims of thieves while they would not be home.
“Like for example sa pagbilin sa atong mga panimalay, i-ensure nato nga sirado gyud. Dili nato hatagag oportunidad ang mga daotang elemento nga mosulod diha sa atong mga panimalay,” said Rafter.
(Like for example, like leaving our houses, make sure that these are locked. Let us not give opportunities to the bad elements who would enter our homes.)