EV Police Shifts Focus: Securing Reopening Businesses

Police forces in Eastern Visayas are gunning their attention at securing business establishments that are reopening this week.

Commander Director Carmelo Valmoria, head of police special action force and security task force, said on Thursday they are also deploying personnel to guard the ‘Diskwento Caravan’ to be opened in Tacloban City on Friday.

Valmoria said they are expecting some businesses to open on Thursday and Friday. “We expect there will be other business establishments that will open today and tomorrow.” Valmoria said.

“A Diskwento Caravan of the Department of Trade and Industry is scheduled for Friday. All these we provided with security,” Valmoria said at a meeting of the inter-agency task force on Yolanda.

The commander added that as of Thursday morning, police forces had been deployed to various areas in Ormoc, Tacloban, Palo, Tanauan, Guiuan and Borongan in Leyte and Samar. He added that on Wednesday, police personnel from the Eastern Visayas regional office were deployed to secure business establishments that opened, which included the Land Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines, and some fuel stations.

Valmoria said that as of Thursday, the regional office for Eastern Visayas has 6,271 reporting members. He also said they will start sending notices to police personnel who have not yet reported for duty. “We will send two notices. If they still fail to return to work we’ll be forced to charge them for neglect of duty,” Valmoria said.

Meanwhile, Gma News Online reported the clearing of the city’s Astrodome is still ongoing, with workers having finished clearing most of the surroundings and are currently concentrating on the interior. The online news said local authorities are considering using the place to show movies for locals.

Clearing operations of roads have also been ongoing for 24 hours in Tacloban City, Gma News Online said.

Residents in Tacloban City are now recovering from the effects of Yolanda, which tore through Visayas and Southern Luzon last November 8, Gma News Online reported.

Source: Gma News Online