CCPO awaits for PDA prohibition order

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) has clarified that it receives no official memorandum yet for the enforcement on the prohibition of public display of affection (PDA) among couples as recommended by its national headquarters.

Police Lt. Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy city director for operations of CCPO, said once they receive the directives, they will immediately conduct information dissemination before enforcing it.

“Atong unang buhaton is to inform the public about that directive so that dili sad sila makuratan nga duna diay ing-ani nga kamandoan," he said.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) is prohibiting couples from engaging in PDA in the time of COVID-19 as it "violates health and safety protocols set by the government."

PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Ildebrandi Usana said the ban includes kissing, holding hands, and hugging in public areas not only between partners, but also between friends and family members.

For Cebu City, Parilla said they cannot yet give the guidelines with regards to the recommendation as according to him they will just wait for the formal directives from the national headquarters.

Parilla, however, said that should the recommendation will be pushed through, its purpose is to enforce the existing health protocols especially on the proper social distancing.

"The same ra gihapon and ang purpose, for me, is distancing, so we will wait sa directive kay gi-state man sad sa directive ang rationale ug nganong gibuhat ni sya nga directive, so far we cannot speculate about sa guidance but we will just wait for the directive for the welfare of everyone," Parilla added.

At present, Parilla said they are leaning their security preparations for the upcoming Lenten season to avoid overcrowding, especially inside the Carbon Market.

This is after the Cebu City government along with security clusters has made a system in the Carbon Market to avoid the same incident that happened last year, which involved the uncontrolled influx of crowd to buy “binignit” ingredients. —GMR (FREEMAN)