More men fielded for arrival of delegates

More APEC delegates are expected to arrive in Cebu  this week, which means more security personnel will be fielded to ensure zero crime.

Police Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, Site Task Group Cebu spokesman,  said the bulk of the over 3,000 delegates are expected to fly in today for the Third Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM3) forum from Sept. 5 to 6. at the Radisson Blu Cebu.

Since last week, 1,492 delegates have come and gone. Only about 300 were locals. The rest were foreigners.

“With the arrival of more APEC delegates in Cebu, we will level up our security operations. We are prepared for that,” Lawas said during a briefing at the APEC International Media Center yesterday.

At least 3,000 police personnel from Central Visayas and 3,000 other uniformed personnel and reinforcements have been deployed all over Metro Cebu to secure the APEC meetings, which are being held in four Cebu City hotels until Sept. 11.

Having uniformed men at almost every street corner has deterred crimes, as indicated by the six-percent decline in crimes in Metro Cebu in the second week of August compared to the week before.

“Perhaps what contributed to this decrease in crime statistics is the deployment of more security personnel,” said Lawas.

Lawas said no security threats have been identified, although they were constantly monitoring security environments.

Meanwhile,  Lawas  said the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas is ready to answer questions and show records about the alleged budget cut for police personnel assigned to secure APEC delegates, an issue cited by Sen. Antonio Trillanes.

“We understand the intention of Senator Trillanes, who is just concerned for uniformed personnel.  We have nothing to hide,” he said.