1K more policemen to help implement Cebu City’s community quarantine
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Expect more cops in Cebu City streets as community quarantine continues.
Cebu City Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia said the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) is planning to augment the police force of the city.
He said that Police Brigadier General Albert Ferro already committed to providing more police to the city to handle the health checkpoints, patrol the streets after curfew, and implement all prohibitions enacted for the general community quarantine.
The police have asked the city government to use the Cebu City Sports Complex as a base for all police responders during the community quarantine.
“We expect when all these police are already deployed, we can implement the EO (executive order) better,” said Garcia.
One of the main tasks law enforcers would have to do is to ensure all public transports practice social distancing.
CDN Digital observed the streets on the second day of the quarantine and found that most jeepneys still do not follow the one-seat-apart policy.
There are not enough police, traffic enforcers, or personnel of the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board to handle the public utility vehicles.
Mayor Edgardo Labella urged the drivers to follow the protocol to keep the virus from spreading. He expects stricter implementation after the police will be done once the police force is augmented.
Public utility vehicles (PUVs) such as van-for-hires will also be strictly monitored after reports of overpricing in the fare has reached the mayor.
He said the PUVs can not increase the fare just because they do not have the usual volume of passengers with the social distancing implemented.
“That’s not allowed. We will have that investigated,” said Labella.
The mayor also urged the public to follow the curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Only authorized government workers, police, health workers, drivers of public transport and those traveling to terminals or ports are allowed to go out during the curfew.
Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) workers are also exempted jf they can present their work identification cards to patrols at checkpoints. /rcg
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