Cebu to have tourist police unit this year

CEBU - To prepare for the expected increase in tourist arrivals, Cebu will soon have its own tourist police unit before the year ends.

National Police Commission-7 regional director Bernardo Calibo said he is meeting today with Cebu Provincial Police Director Sr. Supt. Carmelo Valmoria for the creation of the Cebu Tourist Police.

Cebu has been having increasing tourist arrivals, specially Koreans, Japanese and Americans and this may still rise after Department of Tourism Secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano said the Philippines was chosen as France’s “Ecotourism Destination of the Year”.

“We really have to prepare our policeman to make our tourists safe and comfortable,” Calibo said.

He said the project will be piloted in the Region 7 after the proposal was endorsed by Police Regional Office-7 director Chief Supt. Ronald Roderos to Camp Crame and then finally by the Napolcom en banc for implementation.

Calibo said Bohol just established its own tourist police last week with 50 police personnel distributed to five tourist municipalities.

He said the tourist police will be given a workshop to make them aware of cultural differences of tourists and develop interpersonal and communication skills. Setting up and management of Tourism Help Desks will also be taught.

The main speaker for the workshop is Holger Horn, a German who happens to be a resident of Panglao, Bohol.

Horn served in the German military and was a consultant of the former Clark Air Base. He also trained the Tourist Police in Thailand and is an expert in rescue operations.

He was also featured by a television station for guarding the eco-system of Panglao.

Calibo said those who will undergo the training will not be reassigned to other places for some time so they can apply what they have learned.

Cebu’s favorable peace and order recently made the province the most favored foreign tourist destination nationwide.

According to regional statistics, of the 3.09 million foreign tourists visited the country last year, 748,000 came to Cebu. Misamis Occidental followed as the second top foreign tourist destination with 526,000 visitors.

The third most visited was Baguio City with 441,000 foreign tourists while fourth place went to Boracay as gleaned from the DOT.  — Ferliza C. Contratista/BRP (THE FREEMAN)