The Freeman

CCPO director returns to work after 1 month sick leave

- Sheriza Mae Uy/KQD

After going on sick leave for almost a month, Police Colonel Josefino Ligan will be back at the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) tomorrow, July 6.

This was confirmed yesterday by Police Brigadier General Albert Ferro, Police Regional Office (PRO)-7 director.

Ligan went on leave early June due to work-related stress. He underwent COVID-19 tests which results turned out negative.

Police Colonel Cedric Earl Tamayo assumed Ligan’s post in an acting capacity and is set to return to his original post at the Human Resources Office of the PRO-7 headquarte­rs.

At present, Tamayo is in self-isolation after his staff and personal driver were tested positive for COVID-19, said Ferro.

There are now over 200 policemen in Central Visayas infected with COVID-19. Of the 200, more than 70 have already recovered from the infection.

On Monday, 18 more personnel of the Cebu City Police Office are set to go home after testing negative in subsequent tests. They have been in isolation for 28 days.

CONTRACT-TRACING EXPERTS

On the other hand, Mayor Benjamin Magalong of Baguio City and a five-man team of contact-tracing experts are scheduled to fly on July 8 to Cebu City, which has been reeling from a massive spike in coronaviru­s infections.

Baguio’s contact tracing methodolog­y and its digital surveillan­ce system will be shared with Cebu’s epidemiolo­gy teams and policemen, at the request of Ferro.

Ferro said Magalong is an investigat­ion expert being a former director of the Criminal Investigat­ion and Detection Group (CIDG).

“That’s very effective yung cognitive interviewi­ng technique. It is a skill that has been developed by our law enforcers especially in CIDG,” said Ferro, also a former chief of CIDG’s Major Crime Investigat­ion Unit.

The use of policemen is the key feature of the Baguio system. Their skills in interviewi­ng and tracking down people have become invaluable in locating residents who had been in close contact with coronaviru­s patients. —

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