CEBU, Philippines — Police Regional Office (PRO)-7 Chief Albert Ignatius Ferro has recommended an intensified assessment to determine if Cebu City is now prepared for another de-escalation of its quarantine level.
In a virtual press briefing yesterday, Ferro said that he would like to recommend that Cebu City will remain in the General Community Quarantine (GCQ) status.
"Until we are able to firmly believe that atong mga (people) diri sa Cebu have institutionalized the practice of the minimum health standard and not anymore pabadlong, and maybe we could come up with the gradual transition, from GCQ to MGCQ. But, as of the moment, I would like to recommend that we stay put in GCQ," said Ferro.
He added that they do not want to lose the gains established, especially now that the augmented troops in the city were being slowly pulled out. About 151 elite forces deployed in Cebu City to help the local forces from Camp Crame were already recalled.
"For me we should first observe and come up with a real assessment to see whether the people of Cebu are prepared," said Ferro.
To sustain this, the checkpoints and police patrols would still be in place along with the enhanced contact tracing, he said. The contact tracing system will also be spilled over to the other police stations in highly-urbanized communities.
Ferro is also set to talk with fraternity and sorority members if they could help and become contact tracing volunteers as part of their community service. If they agree, they would take part in the information dissemination brigade to be able to secure, monitor and come up with decisive preventive measures on COVID-19.
At present, Ferro said the areas that the SAF members had left behind were taken over by the Crisis Response Battalion.
He added that there are still several people apprehended, especially for not wearing face masks. /GAN (FREEMAN)