THE Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) chief urged barangay captains to guard their areas to make sure that their constituents stay home.
This, after a picture was taken in Brgy. Tejero showing people going out and gathering in one place when the members of Special Action Force (SAF) left the area.
SunStar Cebu captured images of children and some residents going out of their homes after the SAF had patrolled the barangay on Monday afternoon, June 6, 2020.
People reacted and criticized the situation in the photo because it could be seen that the residents were not being cautious with Covid-19 as they went out without wearing a mask.
Because of this, the CCPO’s officer-in-charge Police Colonel Josefino Ligan, with the Waterfront police station chief, immediately called Barangay captain Boyek Galang.
Ligan said: “We do not have 24/7 police in every area so we encourage barangay officials to police their own ranks and at the same time, join the recorrida. The barangay tanods should conduct a recorrida in the area from time to time.”
The police will continue to talk to barangay officials to prevent their residents from going out without a mask as this is one of the reasons the virus has spread in villages.
They also identified the barangay officials who live in each area so they could monitor and immediately report to the police if there are people who are not following safety protocol especially going out without wearing a mask and gathering in one area.
Ligan said there are other barangays which they find hard to manage as some of these barangays’ constituents are stubborn, though most of them are following protocol implemented by the government.
He appealed to the public especially the residents of Cebu City to avoid going out so the city will no longer extend the enhanced community quarantine period.
“If we continue playing cat and mouse, we might be under ECQ until August,” Ligan said. (AYB / MMC)