Police commandos pull out from Cebu City

STANDING GUARD Members of the police’s Special Action Force are stationed in strategic areas in villages around Cebu City to ensure that residents will follow health and safety protocols meant to stop the community transmission of COVID-19. —NESTLE SEMILLA

CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — The 163 commandos of the police’s Special Action Force (SAF) sent here in June to enforce strict quarantine measures will end their assignment on Aug. 15 as the city’s efforts to contain the spread of the new coronavirus disease showed success.

Police Brig. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro, regional director of the Central Visayas police, said members of the SAF, the elite combat unit of the Philippine National Police, are needed in Metro Manila and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, which had reverted to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) on Aug. 4.

“I would have wanted them to stay here (Cebu City), but I was told that they are more needed in NCR (National Capital Region) and its neighboring provinces,” Ferro said in an interview.

Lockdown

On June 16, Cebu City was placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the strictest form of lockdown, due to a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases, as well as its problem to provide critical health-care assistance to patients.

This prompted the PNP to send SAF troopers to the city to strictly enforce health and safety measures, and to ensure people would stay indoors.

It took a month, on July 16, before the city was downgraded to a slightly relaxed MECQ, which allowed the reopening of shopping malls and select manufacturing and processing plants up to half of their maximum capacity.

On Aug. 1, the city was downgraded to a general community quarantine (GCQ) status, allowing the resumption of more businesses and public transportation.

Cimatu stays

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, who was appointed by President Duterte to oversee the government response to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the city and the rest of Cebu province, said he and his team would not leave the island until all its towns and cities were placed under modified GCQ (MGCQ).

“MGCQ is the goal of Cebuanos so the economy can recover. We will not stop until we achieve that,” he said.

Cimatu said the number of infections recorded daily on Cebu Island had gone down to below 100 or even 20 in the past days, way below the 300 cases reported in June and early July. “I’m happy with this development and I thank the people for cooperating,” he said.

The cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Talisay, as well as the towns of Minglanilla and Consolacion, remain under GCQ.

Records from the Department of Health showed that as of Tuesday, Cebu Island had 16,576 cases of COVID-19, with 5,638 cases considered active. The island recorded 10,037 recoveries and 901 deaths.

Discipline

Authorities said the presence of the SAF commandos helped discipline people and reduce the number of infections in Cebu City.

Ferro earlier asked the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame not to pull out the SAF troopers. Police Gen. Archie Gamboa, PNP chief, initially agreed but later changed his mind.

Ferro said local policemen and those sent to the city from Western Visayas and Eastern Visayas would help implement quarantine measures, especially in areas placed under localized lockdown.

“I am confident that Cebuanos already learned a lesson and would no longer do something that leads to another surge in the number of cases,” he said.

The city police office has 1,200 personnel although about 100 of them remained in quarantine facilities after they were infected with the virus. At least 300 policemen from neighboring regions were assigned in the city since June.

Since the city was placed under GCQ on Aug. 1, at least 600 people were arrested for violating health protocols, such as going out of their houses without quarantine passes while others violated the curfew and the mandatory wearing of face masks in public.