The Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) deployed some two hundred fifty police personnel to maintain law and order in the eight public and private cemeteries in the city pursuant to the annual Oplan Kaluluwa program of the city government.
Police Lt. Col. Armando Gapus, chief of the BCPO plans and programs division, stated that the police personnel have been assigned for quick response, covert operation, traffic management, among others, that will ensure the orderly flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic in and out of the private and public cemeteries around the city.
He claimed that the BCPO has also embarked on the cops on the mall and the deployment of police personnel in the flower and candle vending areas to help in preventing the occurrence of untoward incidents that might compromise the orderly commemoration of the Oplan Kaluluwa in the city.
Earlier, the city government came out with a directive to distribute the influx of well wishers to the different private and public cemeteries in the city by providing the schedule when residents in the barangays will be allowed to visit their loved ones.
While it is true that the private and public cemeteries will be closed for visitation on October 30-31 and November 1-3, 2021, Gapus disclosed that the local police force will still maintain law and order in the different cemeteries in the city and to make sure that there will be no people allowed to enter them during the said prohibited period.
According to him, for the past several days that people are allowed to visit the tombs of their love ones in the various public and private cemeteries in the city, it had been peaceful and orderly because residents are complying with the ongoing implementation of the minimum public health standards to prevent their visit in being a super spreader as existing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases are on a down trend.
Gapus appealed to residents wanting to visit their loved ones buried in the different cemeteries in the city to refrain from bringing with them bladed objects and for them to comply with the stringent regulations being implemented by the law enforcers to ensure law and order in the cemeteries.
He asserted that the BCPO will continue to ensure there will be continuous deployment of police personnel not only in the private and public cemeteries but also in the various barangays to maintain the peace and order in the city and to ensure the compliance of the people to the minimum public health standards to prevent the sudden increase in the number of COVID-19 cases that might compromise local health care system and stress the frontliners.
Gapus stipulated that the BCPO will continue to respond to requests for concerns from the residents on the maintenance of law and order in the city not only during special occasions but also round the clock. By Dexter A. See
