5,000 more cops to secure Bicol visitors on Holy Week
LEGAZPI CITY—Around 5,000 additional policemen will be deployed in public places across Bicol beginning Sunday, as tens of thousands of visitors from various parts of the country are expected to arrive for the Holy Week, said the top police official in the region.
Chief Supt. Victor Deona, Bicol police chief, said the policemen would ensure the safety of the public, including visitors from other places, who wish to take their vacation and observe Holy Week in Bicol.
Deona, in an interview, said they are stepping up their security and public assistance service dubbed “Oplan Sumvac,” which would not only be for this Holy Week but up to June this year.
The security plan also aims to help the public in events like festivals, school homecomings and family gatherings.
He said these events generate movement of people that creates moderate to heavy traffic in major road networks and cause overcrowding in malls and places of convergence while criminals prey on the crowd.
Deona said police presence would be beefed up through foot and mobile patrols in churches, malls, markets, commercial areas, parks, community centers and major tourist destinations.
“Security checks would be strictly enforced in bus terminals and major seaports across the [Bicol] region,” he said.
Deona said they are closely coordinating with the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and volunteer groups to man checkpoints and assistance centers set up in highways, airports, ports, bus terminals and communication relay stations.
The PNP, along with the Philippine Army, would also deploy 635 personnel to guard cellsite relay stations and towers in remote villages prone to attacks by the New People’s Army.
DOTC would also set up similar assistance centers in major airports to assist incoming and outgoing passengers in the cities of Naga, Legazpi and Masbate and in Virac town in Catanduanes.
DPWH-Bicol, along with PNP, DOTC and local government units, would set up 20 motorists assistance centers covering the six Bicol provinces, said DPWH-Bicol public information officer Lucy Castañeda.
She said the centers under
DPWH’s “Lakbay Alalay” program would be manned by engineers, car mechanics, equipment operators and other service crew, who would give free roadside emergency assistance to motorists during the long holidays.
In Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro, police will be on red alert this Holy week with thousands of foreign and local guests expected to flock to the resort town, just like in the previous year.
Senior Insp. Aldwin Santos, chief of the town’s tourist police unit, noted that last year, tourist arrivals increased by more than 50 percent from March to April, or from 28,828 in March to 44,287 in April.
He said the White Beach in Barangay (village) San Isidro has topped the list of the most frequented places in Puerto Galera.
Santos said police would be deployed at various ports in the town—Muelle, Balatero and Minolo—and in the beaches of Sabang and Bulabod and Tamaraw Falls.
“We appeal to people to drink moderately, put their garbage in designated areas and secure their belongings as we cannot monitor each of them,” said Senior Insp. Catalino Batulayan Jr., Puerto Galera deputy chief of police.
He said in the past, when people were flocking to the beaches on Black Saturday, police recovered several alcoholic beverages buried in the white sand.
He said the police mobile numbers are 0917-3296806 and 0906-4473313. With a report from Madonna T. Virola, Inquirer Southern Luzon
