POLICE personnel will still be deployed to different areas of concern in Cebu City despite the cancellation of Holy Week activities to ensure that health protocols will be followed.
Cebu City Councilor Phillip Zafra, public order committee chairman, said aside from the churches in the city, the Carbon Public Market is considered an area of concern.
This, as officials want to prevent the incident in 2020 when the crowd flocked to Carbon market to buy ingredients for binignit but failed to follow the health protocols. The incident happened during the Maundy Thursday in 2020.
"Based on the experience that we have had last year, ato pa gyung pagahugtan ang pag-imposed sa regulations," said Zafra.
Zafra, together with the Cebu Archdiocese and the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), met on Monday, March 8, 2021, to discuss the measures set to be enforced this Holy Week.
This year’s Holy Week celebration falls on March 28 to April 3.
Zafra, together with the Station 5 Police Station commander, Task Force Kasaligan, Barangay Ermita, and the City Market Operations Division, will meet again on Thursday, March 11, to finalize the measures set to be enforced in Carbon.
Cebu City Market Operations Division (MOD) head Irvin Cabales had previously said his office already started the information dissemination to the vendors to help police their own customers should they fail to observe health protocols.
Cabales said the one-entrance-one-exit policy will also be strictly enforced.
Zafra said more police personnel will be deployed in the area during that week.
Zafra said though the church already announced the cancellation of the outside-the-church activities like the devotional processions, the police force will still provide security.
In previous report, the Archdiocese of Cebu already announced the cancellation of devotional processions, including the “Via Crucis” on Fridays of Lent and within the days of the Holy Week, the “Pasos” on Holy Tuesday or Holy Wednesday, the “Visita Iglesia” on Holy Thursday, the “Santo Entierro,” the “La Soledad” processions on Good Friday and the “Sugat” at dawn on Easter Sunday. (JJL)