THE Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) has initially requested 1,700 policemen from Police Regional Office (PRO) in Western Visayas to augment with the existing city police force for security on the 39th MassKara Festival on October.
Senior Superintendent Francisco Ebreo, acting BCPO director, said the number of augmentation personnel will still increase depending also on the number of activities during the festivity.
“We just can’t rely on the initial number of personnel because our basis for the security deployment is also based on the series of activities,” he added.
Of the 1,700 augmentation personnel, 150 of them have already arrived in Bacolod City on Wednesday, September 19, and were deployed to 10 police stations.
Ebreo said they have been attending conferences and meetings in relation to the security preparation for the festival next month.
“We want to find out possible scenarios, emergency situations, and any eventualities so that we can also determine our immediate action and check our resources, as well as assess the response of the commanders leading the task force,” Ebreo said.
When asked if there is a security threat on the festivity, Ebreo did not directly answer the question but he stressed that their security deployment is to prevent possible scenarios of bombing like what happened in Sultan Kudarat, General Santos City, and Masbate City, which resulted to deaths and injuries of some individuals.
“We are expecting everything that may happen, we are thinking outside of the box,” he said.
“Hindi tayo puwedeng magpabaya (We can’t be lax about it),” he added.
He also said some personalities from the national level might also come to Bacolod to witness the festivity since the election is also approaching.
President Rodrigo Duterte is also expected to grace the festivity for the third time this year.
Meanwhile, Ebreo said other security concerns will be addressed by the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, particularly on the security of the tourists and other visitors who will also tour around the province.
Additional forces from the Philippine Army as well as force multipliers will also augment the police for the security.
Ebreo said he will also leave 85 percent of policemen in all 10 police stations for quick police response and visibility patrol to also deter crimes in their areas of responsibility.