By Calvin Cordova
CEBU CITY — Two offices of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) were locked down after 25 policemen were found to be positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
At least 14 personnel have been under isolation after the Operations Division and City Director’s offices were placed under lockdown.
“The purpose of the lockdown is for contact tracing. The personnel who under isolation, including me, will not be allowed to go home,” said Police Col. Cydric Earl Tamayo, officer-in-charge of CCPO.
Tamayo said the 25 policemen who were found to be COVID-19 positive were part of the 133 policemen who underwent rapid testing last Monday.
Tamayo admitted that the CCPO was already undermanned after several personnel were infected with COVID-19.
“But we are assuring the public that the CCPO will not be hampered by the lack of personnel. On my part, I will still be monitoring what’s happening on the field even if I’m under isolation,” said Tamayo, who was appointed OIC of CCPO after Col. Josefino Ligan went on sick leave.
As of yesterday, 81 policemen in Cebu have been infected with COVID-19, but 20 of them have recovered and released from a recovery facility center last Thursday.
With the lack of manpower, Tamayo welcomed the deployment in the city of 100 policemen from Region 8.
“They will help us implement the enhanced community quarantine in the city because our policemen here are already overstretched. They will have to undergo the required health protocols such as rapid testing before they will be deployed,” said Tamayo.
Tamayo, meanwhile, announced that the CCPO has stopped processing the request for travel of locally stranded individuals (SLIs).
“We were instructed by the Camp Crame to stop the processing of SLIs. No one will be allowed to enter or leave the city. The wisdom probably is to prevent the spread of the virus,” said Tamayo, who noted that the city has already recorded more than 4,000 COVID-19 cases.