Crime Volume in Cebu Drops by 3 Percent Due to APEC Security

(PNA) — Crime volume in Cebu dropped by three percent since the start of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit senior ministers meetings in Cebu on Aug. 22, an official said.

Some 3,000 police personnel were deployed to secure the delegates, the hotels where they stayed and the venues of the meetings in Cebu.

Senior Superintendent Rey Lyndon Lawas of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 said the decrease in crime volume was observed in both index and non-index crimes.

Index crimes are those punished under the Revised Penal Code, while non-index crimes are those punished under special laws.

But Lawas said international delegates who went on a tour without registering at their hotel information desk remain a security challenge.

Earlier, police officials found out that there were delegates who traveled to the nearby province of Bohol and joined the Loboc River cruise without informing the information desk.

The APEC delegates who did not inform organizers that they were joining the Loboc River cruise in Bohol were still being trailed by police.

Department of Tourism (DOT) 7 Director Rowena Montecillo said delegates who went out to take a break after meetings were guarded without them knowing it.

“The security should be felt but not seen. We cannot stop them from doing that but it is our objective that nothing will happen,” she said.

But Montecillo encouraged delegates to visit the information center so details of their whereabouts will be passed to police. (PNA) CTB/EB/SSC