Police on alert for Pacquiao fight

CRIME rates may have dropped tremendously in previous fights of Manny Pacquiao but the Cebu City police will be on alert when the Filipino boxing hero squares off with Mexican boxer Juan Manuel Marquez in Nevada, USA.

Senior Supt. Melvin Buenafe, chief of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), placed the city on red alert starting yesterday.

Buenafe said members of the Mobile Patrol Group (MPG) were instructed to conduct regular patrols while commercial establishments were advised to secure their areas.

Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador Jr., director of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO), said town police were asked to conduct checkpoints and secure the gymnasiums where people would converge to watch the fight.

On-duty personnel should focus on their job and just settle for the replay of the fight, said Comendador.

The fight will be shown at the CCPO headquarters on a pay-per-view basis but gambling will be prohibited, said Chief Insp. Romeo Santander of the City Intelligence Branch. CORRESPONDENTS GABRIEL C. BONJOC AND CHITO O. ARAGON