Police getting ready for Sinulog

CEBU, Philippines - After Christmas and New Year, the next event the police will be busy preparing for would be the Sinulog festivities come third week of this month.

Police Regional Office-7 director Chief Supt. Marcelo Garbo said they would be especially busy for Sinulog celebrations this year because many politicians are anticipated to take the opportunity and campaign during this period just like in the past.

“We’ve been to a lot of Sinulog. But this Sinulog will be a different one.

We expect a lot of VIPs, particularly political figures, to come,” said Garbo.

The election is fast approaching but even if it is not yet the campaign period, historically, political figures would flock to Cebu and join the Sinulog festivities to campaign.

Garbo said PRO-7 will be improving more its security preparations for the Sinulog this year compared to their preparation last year.

“The police, in coordination with the Sinulog Foundation, will try to improve its security operations. Kung mas maraming tao, we will increase more our forces,” he said.

Garbo said the police will also improve its crowd control management particularly during the procession and the Sinulog Parade. Apart from contingents from others parts of the country, celebrities are also expected to join the parade.

Garbo said they will also implement the gun ban.

In the past Sinulog celebrations, millions of people from various parts of the country, and even abroad, attended the event.

Last year, over 2 million people were estimated to have joined the procession and even more during the parade.

From the Cebu City Police Office alone, around 500 policemen were deployed in the streets to secure the festivities.

The public, time and again, has been warned to cooperate with the police by not bringing huge cash or adorn themselves with expensive jewelries so as not to attract pickpockets and snatchers. —/MIT (FREEMAN)