CCPO readies for Misa de Gallo

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) will coordinate with the Cebu City government as well as the pastoral security groups if Misa de Gallo will be allowed despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Clark Arriola, CCPO information officer, told reporters yesterday that they will coordinate with the churches concerning the places where they will hold the traditional dawn Masses.

Arriola said there has to be coordination with the city government and churches in order to organize the holding of Masses properly.

"From there, mo-adjust ta sa atong deployment. And as always, dili lang gyud ta puro sa simbahan lang kay of course from the residence mo- commute na sila, mo-travel padung sa mga simbahan. So butangan pod nato sila'g deployment," he said.

Arriola said they have already identified at least 35 churches in the city where they will deploy police personnel to help implement the health protocols as well as for security measures.

He said they initially allotted around 156 police personnel to be deployed for the nine-day dawn Masses.

They still have to assess their capability to deploy police personnel 24/7 starting December 16 to December 24 considering that they have also other deployments.

"Mag-shifting gyud ta kay naa man gud ta'y laing deployments. So mag-device rata og mechanism unsaon nato pagbutang og police presence both sa church and other places of convergence," he added.   

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque earlier said that the national government will leave it to the local government units (LGUs) to decide whether or not to allow dawn Masses.

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella said he will defer to the decision of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the matter.—  FPL (FREEMAN)