Wednesday, January 03, 2007 More police teams expected today for summit, Sinulog
ADDITIONAL teams for the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit will be arriving today and will stay until after the Sinulog festivities.
The other good news for Cebu’s residents it that the task force on security has assured it will shorten the period of road closures to just 30 minutes.
Chief Supt. Silverio Alarcio Jr. said the 1,402 police officers from other regions will resume their field training program (FTP) after their holiday break.
Get help
They will also get help from 250 recruits from the Regional Training School 7 and another 250 recruits from other regions. Aside from the summit, they will be here to help in securing the Sinulog celebration.
Alarcio said they will also schedule dry runs between Jan. 4 and 7 but assured they will do these at night so as not to inconvenience the public.
He explained that they did not need another dry run that required them to close the roads because the Dec. 1 dry run was “efficient enough.”
As for road closures during the summit dates, Alarcio assured Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama that they can cut the period down to 30 minutes.
Rama had asked for just 15 minutes, saying the Sinulog celebration is expected to draw in tourists.
He said the tourists and visitors will need full access to these roads and if Cebu were to promote itself as a tourist hub, tourists should not be allowed to experience such inconveniences as road closures for several hours.
Alarcio assured that based on their dry runs, they can limit each closure to 30 minutes.
But for areas where roads are not too long, they can manage a 15- to 20-minute closure.
While there is an ongoing legal battle about the purchase of surveillance cameras, Alarcio said they will not involve themselves in it.
End-user
He explained that it was more a problem of the Department of Public Works and Highways.
“The PNP (Philippine National Police) is only the end-user. We want very much to use these (cameras), whoever gave these. It is an effective tool in law enforcement and crime prevention,” he told reporters.
He said not all 41 units were fully installed.
But once everything is ready, he said they will schedule an inspection test and evaluate the equipment. (MEA)
