MORE than a hundred policemen and 60 traffic personnel were sent out to man streets along the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) yesterday as WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire and his Hungarian challenger Zsolt Bedak slugged it out for the WBO crown.
As of 8:30 p.m. last night, police estimated the crowd that gathered at the sports center at 7,000 to 8,000, which was way below the 25,000 to 30,000 fans earlier expected to witness the fight.
Senior Insp. Raffy Caballes, officer-in-charge of Cebu City Police Station 2 and the assigned ground commander to secure the event, reported that there were no incidents of theft in areas surrounding the CCSC located in Osmeña Boulevard.
As the undercard bouts were underway from around 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Cebu City remained peaceful as everyone enjoyed the title fight, said Caballes.
Meanwhile, Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) deputy director for operations Chief Insp. David Señor told Cebu Daily News that at least 129 police officers in uniform were deployed to secure the entry and exit points of the venue with at least 10 covert police officers and a team from the city’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT).
“We did not receive any reports of pickpockets or theft yet as of 8:30 p.m. But since most private cars are now parked along S. Osmeña Boulevard, we have deployed beat patrols to avoid any bukas kotse (car theft) incident,” Señor told CDN.
He also noted that the traffic situation in the area was “moderate but moving” while the fights were ongoing requiring no need for the implementation of a planned re-routing scheme.
The Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) initially planned to divert all public utility vehicles coming from uptown or from Capitol to Arlington Pond (near the CAP Theater).
But CCTO operations chief Jonathan Tumulak said that the regular flow of vehicles outside CCSC was not affected since most spectators were inside the venue.
Half of the lane from Abellana National High School to Fuente Osmeña circle which was intended as parking lot for spectators was not even full, said Tumulak.