No security changes with SAF recall; contact tracing to intensify

Personnel of the Crisis Management Battalion of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas will take over the duties of the SAF personnel who have been recalled to their headquarters today. | CDN Digital file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — There will be no changes in the security plans of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) despite the recall of the 151 Special Action Force (SAF) personnel to headquarters today, August 11, 2020.

Police Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro, PRO-7 director, said that the Crisis Response Battalion (CRB) team with more than 600 augmented personnel around the region, would be the one to take over the tasks of SAF in quarantine control points and barangay patrolling.

Read: SAF troops a huge help in COVID response in Cebu City–Cimatu

“There will be no problem, we will initiate the same protocol that we have been doing since March,” said Ferro.

He assured that the personnel would remain strict in implementing the guidelines drafted under the general community quarantine (GCQ) status.

Meanwhile, Ferro said that they would be intensifying their contact tracing through the establishment of the Regional Integrated Contact Tracing Operation Center which would be an interface of the “WeTrace” program of Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia.

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“So that we will know pag naa problem sa usa ka lungsod diri sa Central Visayas, dili na ta mag hulat (So we will know if there are problems in some towns in Central Visayas we would no longer wait) we will be the one to inform the local government or the other IATF personnel nga naay problem,” said Ferro.

Ferro added that they will be closely coordinating with the LGUs in terms of contact tracing to be able to immediately respond in areas reported with high cases especially in Cebu Province now that the COVID-19 cases there has a bit of an increase.