Police won’t loosen protocol enforcement despite lower alert level

CEBU, Philippines —  The Oplan Bulabog activities of Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) will continue despite the announcement that Cebu City will be reverted back to Alert Level 2 starting February 16, 2022.

"So expect that your police will continue to go around and apprehend those who have violated the existing ordinances, especially sa dili mag-wear sa face masks, dili pagsunod sa health protocols, as well as existing ordinance on curfew," said Lt. Colonel Maria Theresa Macatangay, information officer of CCPO, on Tuesday.

She added that Oplan Bulabog will run until Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama will issue another executive order that will determine their next implementation on the ground.

The CCPO also emphasized that the declaration of Alert Level 2 does not imply that the restrictions will also be loosened, although there will be readjustments, particularly on the allowed capacity of establishments, accomodation industries,and the public transportations.

Nevertheless, Macatangay said the regular Oplan Bulabog will now be done randomly. They will be also analyzing its need of intensity through consultations based on consolidated data provided by Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

With this, special attention in terms of deployment will be implemented in the areas with the most positive cases that will appear in the coming days.

According to Macatangay, during their implementation of existing guidelines when the city was in Alert Level 3, they observed “compliance” with the ordinances and directives from the citizens.

She, however, added that at some point, when the positive cases of COVID-19 decreased as shown by the data of the Department of Health (DOH), they also observed that some establishments have relaxed a bit in the implementation of the protocols.

"However, that presupposes that they have already established certain protocols from within their establishments to control the activities of people entering into their private establishments," said Macatangay.

"In general, wala tay problema nga dinagko sa pagpatuman, gamay lang diri sa mostly here residential areas but on the industrial, commercial areas, wala tay dagko nga problema diring dapita," she added.

Meeting

Meanwhile, Cebu City's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and barangay officials are set to meet today to discuss easing more restrictions under alert level 2.

Garganera, in yesterday’s interview, said among the topics to be discussed are the conduct of contact sports and curfew.

Basketball, which is one of the contact sports mostly played by the locals here, was supposed to be allowed last December until typhoon Odette came followed by an Omicron-driven surge.

Now with the cases down to less than 2,000 and the city is back to alert level 2, basketball enthusiasts are hoping they can get back to playing now.

Aside from basketball, the matter on curfew is also expected to be tackled today.

The EOC is also expected to meet with the business sector and Mayor Michael Rama this week.

“Ang gusto ni mayor, han-ay gyud.We will meet with the business sector for that area within the week. The mayor wants to have a consultative meeting with the other sectors,” said Garganera.

In its meeting with Rama earlier, the business sector, especially resto-bar owners, are hoping for the lifting of curfew too.

As the business sector hopes for the further easing of some restrictions, they promised to continue complying with the health protocols set by the city government against COVID-19.  — Iris Hazel Mascardo and Decemay Padilla, KQD (FREEMAN)