2.5T more cops requested to secure Sunday’s Sinulog

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Police Office has requested for an additional 2,500 policemen to augment its personnel for the Sinulog festivities, including the various religious activities, this week.

Chief Inspector David Señor, CCPO Police Community Relations Branch chief, said their current force of 1,000 policemen is not enough to handle the number of people especially during the grand parade this Sunday.

He said the city needs additional 3,500 personnel from the Police Regional Office-7 to better secure the Sinulog celebration.

Senior Superintendent Rey Lyndon Lawas, deputy regional director for operations of the Police Regional Office-7, however, said security preparations for the Sinulog have been fully implemented.

He said additional policemen from the Bohol Police Provincial Office, Cebu Provincial Police Office, Siquijor Provincial Police Office, Mandaue City Police Office, and Lapu-Lapu City Police Office will arrive today to help CCPO.

Lawas, though, said that based on regional intelligence reports, there is nothing to be alarmed of as there are no indications that a group might cause havoc during the Sinulog.

Despite this, Señor urged the public to be very security conscious, adding that flyers and posters, tarpaulins and other educational materials designed to help spread information to people have been utilized to prevent petty crimes from happening.

He said that so far they only received reports on members of criminal groups from Davao arriving in Cebu to take advantage of the huge crowd.

Señor said that as part of proactive measures CCPO has adopted, the Theft and Robbery Section and the City Intelligence Branch are conducting surveillance operations in places that criminals might temporarily stay. 

PRO-7 Director Manuel Gaerlan, however, has yet to declare a full alert status for this weekend.

Once he does, all police offi-cers in the region are required to report to their respective units and stations and those on leave would have their applications cancelled.

This is for the police to have maximum strength so PRO-7 could attend to the needs of the people during the Sinulog without having to sacrifice their campaigns like the fight against illegal drugs and operations against petty crimes.

Meanwhile, Lawas said the additional policemen would receive P50 meal allowance this Sunday if the Cebu City government would approve the proposal the CCPO had submitted. —(FREEMAN)