By Jennifer Rendon and Glazyl Y. Masculino
Due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, quarantine control points (QCPs) in the cities of Bacolod and Iloilo will be taken over by members of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB)-6.
Police Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan, Western Visayas police chief, said the deployment of RFMB-6 troops to QCPs took effect 8 am Tuesday.
Pamuspusan justified the move citing the observation of the National Inter-Agency Task Force COVID-19 on the surge in cases in the region’s two highly urbanized cities.
The RFMB-6 deployment is relative to the concept of “strict implementation of standard health protocols and guidelines.”
Mobile force battalions are the PNP’s mobile reaction unit usually deployed for internal security operations (ISO) or insurgency purposes,
They are also utilized to reinforce/support the provincial, city, and municipal police units relative to public safety operations, law enforcement operations, and special police operations.
“The decision of the regional command on the changes in the manning and QCP operations and deployment of COVID marshals must be intensified in the cities of Bacolod and Iloilo to prevent the situation from getting worse and to be ready to re-impose stricter restrictions as soon as critical parameters start rising again,” the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) said in a statement.
The RMFB-6 will initially augment 97 personnel for the 6 QCPs under the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) and 40 personnel to complement Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) in their 7 QCPs.
Pamuspusan said that they also want ICPO and BCPO to maximize the utilization of their organic personnel as COVID marshals, beat patrollers, and members of the Contact Tracing Team.
As they do that, the RMFB-6 personnel will be taking over QCPs to ensure that the minimum health protocols inside the public utility vehicles are properly imposed, Pamuspusan said.
Meanwhile, the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) has requested an additional personnel from the Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB)-6 to augment their existing police force assigned in eight outer border control check-up points here amid the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ).
Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Pico, BCPO’s public information officer, said 40 personnel from the RMFB-6 based in Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental arrived at the BCPO headquarters yesterday.
They were immediately deployed to various check-up points to help the other policemen regulate the movement of people and vehicles from out of town areas in the province.
On Monday night, the National Inter-Agency Task Force (NIATF) against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) reverted Bacolod to MECQ from Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) due to the rising number of COVID cases here.
Pico admitted that the city police force lacks personnel to man the streets while they implement stricter lock down measures from September 8 to 30.
He said check-up points have one team each composed of eight personnel.
The primary role of the augmentation team is to replace some of these personnel in the field, he added.
The augmentation team will remain under the BCPO until further notice, he said.
Aside from the eight outer border control, the BCPO has also established more than 20 inner border control check-up points within the city.
Meanwhile, Colonel Romy Palgue, director of Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo), said they are willing to provide additional personnel to the BCPO, if necessary.
Palgue said Nocppo also ensures the movement of people of the different local government units (LGUs) to and from Bacolod, as the province is currently under the MGCQ until September 30.
