PRO-7 raises alert status

CEBU, Philippines -  Police Regional Office-7 has placed the entire region under heightened alert status effective on Monday because of the Christmas season.

 PRO-7 director Chief Superintendent Prudencio Tom Bañas said that all city and provincial police directors in Central Visayas were directed to deploy more personnel on the streets to prevent petty crimes which are expected to rise during the holiday season. Bañas said that police visibility can help prevent petty crimes from rising.

In Cebu City, more than 100 policemen from the Regional Public Safety Batta-lion are expected to be deployed on the streets to augment the local police stations. The deployment of augmentation force will stay until after Christmas because of the Sinulog in January.

Superintendent Rex Derilo, chief of the Regional Intelligence Division, ordered the intelligence operatives of the lower units to intensify their monitoring of possible criminal elements that might take advantage of the season.

Derilo said that among the criminal elements the police are monitoring are the suspects in the MyGold Pawnshop robbery who were able to post bail. He said the group was also responsible in the series of robbery incidents in Bacolod, Bohol, Surigao, and even in Luzon.

The group, however, is not in Cebu anymore but there is a possibility that the members will be coming for the holiday season. The police urged all security providers, especially those in financial institutions, not to let their guards down.

Derilo reiterated that security providers are hired to secure the establishments and to prevent any untoward incidents from happening. — (FREEMAN)