DAVAO City’s Public Safety and Security Command Center (PSSCC) denied that security threat is the main reason for the reimposition of curfew in the city.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio issued on Monday, October 12, 2020, Executive Order (EO) 55, which enforces curfew, liquor ban and regulation of other activities in the city until December 31, 2020. It will be effective beginning noon of October 15.
The curfew, which was lifted on August 3, will once again be reimposed, this time from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. the following day.
Duterte-Carpio said in a radio interview that there is a need to reimpose curfew and regulate other activities due to the surge of Covid-19 cases.
She said based on the Covid-19 patients in the city, most of them contracted the virus from non-essential activities and movements.
The mayor also said reimplementing the curfew would also support the city's security forces, particularly the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) since some of its personnel are under mandatory quarantine.
"Sa sugod pa lang, sa tibuok Pilipinas, ang police to population ratio is not ideal sa atoa. Gamay ang police, daghan ang tao nga bantayan. Mas daghan pa ang kriminal sa police," she said.
(Police-to-population ratio in the entire Philippines is not really ideal ever since. We have fewer police officers and more people needed to be watched. In fact, there are more criminals compared to the police.)
She added, "Gawas pa anang Covid-19, gawas pa anang support nato sa DCPO, there is also a real terrorism threat diria sa atoa sa tibuok Mindanao. (Aside from the existing Covid-19 pandemic and as our support to DCPO, there is also a real terrorism threat in the entire Mindanao).”
PSSCC chief Angel Sumagaysay, in a phone interview with SunStar Davao, said the security cluster, as of now, has not monitored any information on possible threats within the city.
Sumagaysay, for his part, saw the reimplementation of the curfew as a Covid-19 measure rather than a response to a security threat.
He said PSSCC observed more people in public especially during night time since the curfew was lifted.
The security official also noted that based on their monitoring from time-to-time, some health protocols are not properly observed in public places, which might have contributed to the widespread transmission.
"Ang atoa dinha is kinahanglan naay control sa mga mass gatherings particularly inig gabii. Daghan gyud galaag. And kining mass gathering is isa sa mga hinungdan ngano naay local transmission," Sumagaysay said.
(There is a need to control mass gatherings especially at night. People were seen strolling around. These had been attributed to the increasing local transmission.)
He said they are not ruling out possible security threats in the city, adding that the pandemic did not disrupt terrorist activities, especially in Mindanao.
He cited the twin bombings in Jolo, Sulu on August 24 that killed 15 persons, including seven soldiers, while leaving 77 others injured.
Based on the city's recent bombing incident history, he said Davao City is not immune to this kind of incident even when under community quarantine.
Sumagaysay attributed the curfew as a way to invigorate the security forces as they are also tasked in the current Covid-19 response activities.
The PSSCC head said the imposition of curfew in the past months had helped lessen the crime volume in the city.
Based on the data from DCPO, the city was able to reach a 98.19-percent crime solution efficiency rate from its 2,261 crime volume during the second quarter of the year. This is a significant increase compared to the 1,359 in the same period last year with a crime solution rate of only 87.42 percent.
He said the city needs to step up with its security measure, particularly in its combat against terrorism.
This is one of the reasons why the City Government conducted its community exercise on Wednesday, October 14.
Sumagaysay said the exercise tested Dabawenyos' cooperation with the authorities in response to reporting suspicious individuals who might be planning terroristic activities, staying true to the Culture of Security campaign “May Nakita, Dapat Magsalita.”
During the exercise scenario, the PSSCC through the Central 911 announced using radio stations and other means of communication the presence of 25 persons disguising as terrorists. Each establishment, whether private or public, church, hotel and inn, restaurant and mall was targeted by the actors.
As of 1:45 p.m., 19 disguising terrorists were neutralized by security personnel, while six more were still being searched.
Sumagaysay said the exercise was able to see the response of the community.
He said they decided to involve the public in their activities as this would encourage Dabawenyos to be vigilant and report suspicious individuals immediately to authorities.