1,300 Cops to Secure Duterte’s Cebu Visit

Police Regional Office 7 (PRO-7) will deploy 1,300 personnel to secure the visit of President Rodrigo Duterte in Cebu Monday.

PRO-7 staff decided on the number of personnel for deployment during their final coordinating conference with the Presidential Management Staff and members of the Philippine Information Agency at the PRO-7 Conference Room, Thursday night.

The 1,300 security personnel will consist of policemen from the cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, and Mandaue, as well as support forces from the Cebu Provincial Police Office and Regional Public Safety Battalion.

Supt. Reyman Tolentin, PRO-7 information officer, said Friday the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will also field some of their men to beef up security for the President’s visit.

Tolentin, however, clarified that these security forces from the Philippine National Police (PNP) will only secure the route and the immediate vicinities of the venues of the President’s meetings and the hotel where he will be billeted. The Presidential Security Group (PSG), he said, will be in charge of the venues’ security.

Some members of the PSG will be arriving Saturday to check and clear the venues for Duterte’s arrival on Monday.

On Thursday, PRO-7 conducted a walk-through on the places the President might visit and considered his travel time from one venue to another. They also conducted a general assessment of the President’s itinerary.

Duterte is set to unveil the Malasakit Center for indigent patients at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center and preside over the joint command conference of PNP and AFP officials in the Visayas region at the PRO-7 headquarters.

The President will also turn over 20 Mitsubishi Montero patrol vehicles donated by the Japanese Government to PRO-7 and will meet with all the governors and city and municipal mayors in Visayas and Mindanao. (PNA)