THE Philippine National Police (PNP) will deploy around 7,000 tourist policemen for immediate response to concerns particularly on safety and security of both local and foreign tourists in various destinations during the summer vacation, especially during the Lenten break.
In a press conference, PNP chief of the Public Information Office (PIO) Colonel Jean Fajardo said they are already in the final stages of their preparation for the summer vacation exodus.
She said they will also deploy 427 police service dogs for the conduct of inspection in transport terminals.
Fajardo said they have identified critical areas for police deployment such as tourist destinations, transport terminals, air and sea ports and churches and other religious destinations where Police Assistance Desks will be established on top of the deployment of roving cops.
“Yung ating mga (Our) regional directors are given leeway to increase their respective deployment, including ‘yung pagtataas ng alert level sa kani-kanilang lugar (the raising of alert level in their respective areas) if there is a need to at least elevate ‘yung kanilang alert level,” said Fajardo.
“So far, wala silang namomonitor na anomang seryosong banta para ma disrupt itong observance ng ating Oplan Semanta Santa subalit lagi nating sinasabi hindi ito ibig sabihin na magkukumpiyansa tayo kaya patuloy ‘yung ginagawa nating coordination sa ating ibang mga ahensya ng gobyerno including ‘yung Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) na lagi na kapag may mga ganitong major events tayong binabantayan ay katuwang natin,” she added.
(So far, they are not monitoring any serious threat to disrupt the observance of our Oplan Semanta Santa but we always say this does not mean we will be confident so we continue to coordinate with our other government agencies, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine Coast Guard who always cooperate with us when there are major events like this.)
Fajardo reiterated the PNP’s reminder to the public to be wary of their surroundings to avoid being victimized by crimes during the summer break where most families leave their homes for vacation. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)