500 policemen deployed as delegates start arriving
Vans wih APEC plates are on standby at Bayfront Hotel and other hotels for the use of delegates. (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Police went on heightened alert in anticipation of the arrival today of the first batch of delegates to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings.
Senior Supt. Marciano Batiancela, Jr., acting chief of the Cebu City Police Office, said around 200 policemen were deployed to hotels yesterday.
A total of 500 policemen as well as some barangay watchmen will be deployed today in strategic areas, including tourist spots that delegates might visit, he said. The rest will be on standby at their respective stations.
Augmentation troops from other regional units in Siquijor and Negros Oriental as well as personnel from the Regional Public Safety Battalion Central Visayas and Special Action Force from Camp Crame are also expected to arrive today.
At least six foreign delegates are expected to arrive today, Cebu City Police Community Relations head Supt. Enrique Belciña said in a text message.
Four are from Mexico, one from Australia and one from the US, he added.
Lito Maderazo, overall coordinator of the APEC Cebu Organizing Committee (COC), said around 500 delegates are expected to attend the Third Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM3) and Related Meetings from Aug. 22 to Sept. 6. Most of them are expected to arrive on or before Sept. 5, when the SOM3 will open.
More than 3,200 delegates are expected to come in and out of Cebu for all APEC meetings until September.
Cebu will also host the Structural Reform Ministers’ Meeting, Finance and Central Bank Deputies’ Meeting, and Finance Ministers’ Meeting.
“Please understand that the delegates will not come in one wave,” Maderazo told reporters yesterday.
“The first day will start out slow, and the number of delegates will increase as days go by,” he added. A delegate normally stays for two to four days and then leaves.
TOURIST SPOTS
Senior Supt. Noel Gillamac, Cebu Provincial Police Office director, said they sent three out of 10 policemen to augment the Cebu City police. The rest will secure tourist spots and strategic areas.
Insp. Jonafe Vergara, who has been assigned to make the detail security plan, said 28 policemen and 63 village watchmen have been assigned to secure six tourist spots.
These are Kota Park in Madridejos town, Malapascua Island, San Francisco in Camotes Islands, Basdiot in Moalboal, Matutinao in Badian, and Tan-awan in Oslob.
Some 47 hotels and resorts across the province have also tightened security.
In Mandaue City, Senior Supt. Mariano Natu-el, Jr. said around 140 police personnel will be deployed on the streets.
Each of Mandaue’s 27 barangays have also promised to send 10 village watchmen to augment the police./With Correspondents Melissa Q. Cabahug and Chito O. Aragon
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