Police augmentation to stay while city under Alert Level 3

CEBU, Philippines —  The augmentation personnel from the Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB) -7 will continue to help the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) enforce the minimum health protocols until the city’s alert level status is downgraded.

Mayor Michael Rama said that with the city’s alert level 3 status extended until February 15, 2022, police augmentation personnel will also stay a bit longer.

More than a hundred police personnel had been augmented to CCPO earlier following a spike in COVID-19 cases. They are tasked to monitor the movement of people and make sure that “Oplan Puyo” is implemented.

Rama said the presence of the augmented personnel is still very much needed here. COVID-19 cases in Cebu City remain high and Rama wants to bring it down to a safe level with the help of the police.

As of January 30, 2022, the data from the Department of Health-7 shows that the city has 7,423 active cases.

“Precisely no guards being lowered, so continue sila and I’m looking at very good days ahead”, said Rama.

The mayor has urged those that are unvaccinated to get the COVID-19 shots as soon as they can and those that have already completed their primary series to get booster shots for an extra layer of protection. Yesterday, 14 vaccination sites were open for the primary series and booster shots in the city.

“Naa tay gi-open karon nga 14 kabuok sites for the karong adlawa (yesterday), to inform the public ang atong nabakunahan karon first dose niabot na ta og 669,345, ang atong second dose 587,000 pero daghan pa ang wala ma encode kung i-encode ni tanan moabot gyud ni og almost 700,000,” said Dr. Jeffrey Ibones, Officer-in-Charge of the Cebu City Health Department.

In a related development, Rama also reminded everyone especially the Filipino-Chinese community which will celebrate the Chinese New Year today on the dos and don’ts under alert level 3.

The use of firecrackers, fireworks, and pyrotechnics is still not allowed in the whole duration of the Chinese New Year 2022.

Along with this, visits to Chinese temples are allowed but only 30% of its capacity will be allowed. — Decemay Padilla, FPL (FREEMAN)