2 thousand cops arrive to guard Cebu

CEBU, Philippines —  Around 2,000 uniformed personnel are now deployed in Cebu City, following the arrival of the members of the Special Action Force (SAF), said Police Regional Office (PRO)-7 Director Albert Ignatius Ferro.

“The SAF Troopers have arrived, I’ll be meeting them.  Estoryahon na nato sila para makatulong na sila,” said Ferro.

The PRO-7 is also expecting two armored vehicles from SAF that are expected to arrive today. These 2,000 augmentation force is composed of police personnel coming from the different police provincial offices.

Ferro added that the focus of their augmentation is on quarantine patrol, quarantine operations and monitoring on the containment zones.

Aside from this, Ferro said they were being backed by the Cebu-Bohol-Siquijor Task Force, the BFP and the barangay officials.

“Remember that Cebu is a very peculiar city.  It is in the middle of Cebu Province, wherein you cannot pass to the north or the south without passing through Cebu City,” Ferro said, emphasizing that the deployment is a big help for them to guard every corner of the city.

Among those they are guarding and securing is the shipment of supplies along with the coordination of the Maritime and AFP. They are also securing the Mactan International Airport that is now in operation in Lapu-Lapu, Ferro said.

He added that the operations in the police offices in Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu City will not be left out.

“They have always been in contact with the movement of the QCPs, but we cannot leave out Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu as well...we are trying to balance the human resources,” he added.

Along with the augmentation from the neighboring PRO-6 and PRO-8, Ferro said that they will be able to implement fully the ECQ protocols without leaving out the operations of the other city police offices.  GAN (FREEMAN)