‘We will help you’
Declare that you’re an evacuee from Marawi and we will help you.
This is what the chief of operations of the Cebu City Police Office ( CCPO), Chief Insp. Ramoncelio Sawan, told residents from Marawi who are planning to come to Cebu amid the ongoing clash between government troops and the Maute Group.
“It would be better for them to say so that we can help them in entering Cebu,” Sawan said.
On Monday, the CCPO, Cebu Ports Authority, Philippine Coast Guard and the Maritime Group will meet to discuss security of Cebu City’s coastal areas.
Sawan also appealed to motorists to stretch their patience and cooperate with the police in the conduct of checkpoints.
“It’s for their safety and it would be advisable for them to roll down their windows so that our police officers can check thoroughly. If they won’t agree, then it’s also their right to refuse,” Sawan said.
Different checkpoints will be conducted all over the city as part of the police’s security measures following President Rodri- go Duterte’s declaration of martial law in Mindanao.
The Bohol Provincial Police Office (BPPO) is also monitoring the presence of 18 Maranao missionaries who arrived in Jagna port last Wednesday dawn.
BPPO Director Felipe Natividad said the group is composed of missionaries from Cebu, LapuLapu and Pampanga.
“They came from Davao in Barangay Miniforest and we already coordinated with the Sta. Ana Police Station to verify their identities. There is nothing to worry about because the barangay captain of the place vouched for them and said that they are law abiding citizens,” Natividad said.
Police ask public to be more patient and cooperate with checkpoints.
Natividad said the group visited Bohol to ask some inactive Muslims to practice their faith again and showed documents and identification cards.
For now, the BPPO has not monitored a mass exodus of evacuees coming from Marawi or other areas of Mindanao, which is under Martial Law.
But residents from the conflict-stricken areas are welcome to come to Bohol under the care of the provincial government, Natividad said.