CCPO ready for possible proliferation of fake vax cards for interzonal travel

Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, CCPO deputy director for operations, says during a press briefing today, July 5, that they are preparing for the possible proliferation of fake vaccination cards once interzonal travel will be eased. | Screengrab from Pegeen Maisie Sararana video

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Policemen in Cebu City will be asking the city government for an updated list of individuals who already completed their COVID-19 vaccination to monitor the possible proliferation of fake vaccination cards of the inbound and outbound travelers. 

Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, Cebu City Police Office Deputy City Director, said that they would be coordinating with the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) to have daily updates of those fully vaccinated individuals in Cebu City. 

“Pwede man ta mangayo sa Regional DOH for the record sa tanang na vaccinated. The problem now is the incoming from the other regions nga musulod diri sa Cebu, considering nga Cebu is the center sa tanang byahero,coming in and out from Cebu City,” Parilla said. 

This also follows the directives of Police General Guillermo Eleazar, Philippine National Police (PNP) director, to his personnel to be wary of possible individuals who might take advantage of the eased rules on the interzonal travel for fully vaccinated persons and the use of possible fake vaccination cards for entry. 

Considering that Cebu City had been the center for travelers going in and out from the other regions, Parilla said that they were planning to recommend to Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to also regularly provide them or the Cebu City government with the list of of vaccinated individuals from the other regions. 

This is for them to be also aware on the basis of authenticity of the vaccination cards from travelers other regions especially to the police officers manning the entry points of the city like its ports and terminals.

“Kung i fully-implement man na nga walay nay problema mu-travel ang mga vaccinated na, so ato na pud ng ipuno sa atong guidelines sa atoang mga police nga nag man sa nga piers and terminals nga to check authenticity sa mga vaccination cards nga ipakita sa mga travelers,” said CCPO deputy director for operations. 

(If that is fully implemented that there is no problem for those who fully vaccinated to travel, so we will have to add guidelines to our police manning the piers and terminals that they have to check the authenticity of the vaccination cards that the travelers will show them.)

With this, Parilla said that they were hoping for the EOC to provide them with a daily and updated list of vaccinated individuals for them to check into. 

Among their security systems that they are considering to implement is to set up a City Tactical Operations Center City (CTOC) that will work with the database, where the police officers can immediately call should they encounter travelers bearing a fake vaccination card.

Parilla also clarified that this would no longer require heavy adjustments from their police deployment as these would already be additional guidelines and duties of the police manning the entry points since the beginning of the pandemic. 

“Kay everyday, duna man tay briefing sa atong mga personnel before their deployment,ato ng ipahibaw sa atong mga personnel kung unsa ang mga bag-ong guidelines nga ipatuman,”said the CCPO official. 

(Because we have a briefing of our personnel before their deployment every day, we will let theim know about the new guidelines that will be implemented.)

For those Individuals, who will be apprehended for presenting a fake vaccination card, they could face the charges of  Falsification of Documents and other possible violation under the IATF guidelines. 

Furthermore, the CCPO official clarified that to have a dynamic implementation of these new guidelines, this would be in full coordination with other agencies.

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