Blue guards at bus terminal, police at churches for Lent

ADDITIONAL blue guards will be fielded to  secure the Cebu South Bus Terminal in anticipation of the stream of passengers visiting their hometowns during the Holy Week break.

It will be a long break since April 9, the Monday after Easter Sunday, is Araw ng Kagitingan, a holiday.

Capitol security consultant Cesar Veloso said he will ask the  Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) for more personnel to watch the terminal. He said  public to monitor their belongings when boarding the buses.

In Cebu City, Mayor Michael Rama reminded the police to stay visible in major churches like San Nicolas Parish and the Guadalupe Parish grounds where the annual Buhing Kalbaryo will be staged on Good Friday.

“The most important element is that everybody should maintain vigilance,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police is on its toes to keep vacationers and out-of-towners safe from criminals for the next 75 days, officials said.

The PNP spokesperson, Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr., said the PNP would implement the two-and-a-half month public safety campaign dubbed Oplan: SumVac (summer vacation) 2012 for the entire dry season.

The campaign kicked off after the closing of the school year this month with thousands of students returning to their home provinces, Cruz said.

“Oplan SumVac will remain in effect through the Holy Week in April, the traditional fiesta and Flores de Mayo season in May and the opening of the next school year in June,” he said in a statement.

PNP Director General Nicanor A. Bartolome said intensified police operations would continue against street crime syndicates “especially those involving riding-in-tandem (sic) suspects.”

He ordered sustained law enforcement operations against armed motorcycle-riding men engaged in robbery and other forms of street crime.

The PNP chief cited recent successful police operations that led to the arrest of suspects involved in high profile cases, including the robbery-killing of 15-year-old honor student Rowell Cruz, who was robbed of his portable videogame console and cellphone by motorcycle-riding thugs.

Two suspects were eventually arrested in Taguig City. /Correspondents Carmel Loise Matus and Edison delos Angeles with an Inquirer report