Cops trained to augment tourist police

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu Police Provincial Office is planning to train policemen who can augment the tourist police in the province.

CCPO Director Colonel Aladdin Collado said they will coordinate with the Department of Tourism Central Visayas (DOT-7) for the training of these policemen.

“We know for the fact nga dumarami na nga ang mga tourist spots natin dito, and then we have this localization sa PNP na kung saan ang mga police natin na tatransfer doon sa mga lugar nila… so nakikita natin na lumiliit na talaga lalo na ang mga tourist police na assign sa atin,” Collado said.

“Having tourist police requires a specialized training. As of now, we are planning to add 50 tourist police officers for the entire province,” he furthered.

The provincial director said they will “augment” the tourist police in the different towns in the province offering tourist destinations, saying there’s no need to create a task force for tourism spots.

“I don’t have the capacity to create a task force because there’s already an existing provincial tourism task force,” Collado clarified.

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia earlier issued an Executive Order No. 20-B creating the Cebu Provincial Tourism Task Force wherein the CPPO director is one of the members.

Garcia and Collado both agreed that there’s a need to augment the tourist police since the province has already opened the tourism industry to the public now that it is under the Modified General Community Quarantine.

Garcia also clarified that the people who went to the beach in Bantayan island and who allegedly violated protocols like not wearing face masks and physical distancing were actually not tourists. The reports were based on that circulated on social media, which have since been deleted.

Garcia said that according to Sante Fe Mayor Ithamar Espinosa, there’s still no booking or reservations logged yet for tourists in their town.

Under MGCQ, tourists who intend to go visit and enjoy the white sand beaches of Bantayan island must have a confirmed booking for them to be able to purchase two-way ticket in going to the island.

Since the province is now under the most relaxed form of community quarantine, locals are already allowed to cross borders to visit tourist destinations and people can also go to the beaches.

Garcia said that based on the University of Edinburgh study, salt water solution could treat COVID-19 symptoms.

“It found out that participants who gargled and cleared their nose with a salt water solution reported fewer coughs and less congestion,” Garcia said, quoting the report.  — JMD (FREEMAN)