CEBU CITY – To show that there is no let-up in its campaign to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) will be hiring 200 civilians who will compose Task Force Kasaligan.

          The task force members will serve as force multipliers, who will assist the police in enforcing quarantine protocols in the different barangays in the city.

          Members of the task force will fill the void that will be vacated by the 1,125 policemen from Regions 6 and 7 who were sent here as augmentation force.

          The augmentation force which help the local police enforce quarantine protocols.

          “Kasaligan means reliable so we will rely on the task force to ensure that the guidelines set by the Inter-Agency Task Force will be implemented,” said Col. Josefino Ligan, chief of the Cebu City Police Office.

          Ligan said the creation of the task force was approved by City Mayor Edgardo Labella.

          The city government will be shouldering the salary of the force multipliers, who will be paid P370 for an eight-hour duty.

          Ligan said the CCPO will be accepting Cebu City residents aged 21-35 years old.

       The CCPO will be checking the background of the applicants aside from asking them to submit various requirements such as medical certificate, barangay and police clearances, diploma and transcript of records.

          “We are targeting criminology graduates and we will be prioritizing Cebu City residents. We will be giving them employment for four months from September to December but if the city wishes to extend the program, then it will better,” said Ligan.

          The creation of the task force will be beneficial for the city, said Ligan.

          “We have 1,025 personnel at CCPO and with close to a million population, the ratio is not so balance. We need these force multipliers so that we can maintain our risk classification and not revert to a stricter community quarantine,” said Ligan.

          The task force members will be divided into two groups—north and south sectors—and will be supervised by policemen in conducting patrol and checkpoints.

          “They will be allowed to implement arrest. Included in the project is a three-day refresher course. Because they are criminology graduates, they are familiar with law enforcement subjects. The refresher course will pertain to warrantless arrest, various executive orders by the mayor and police intervention techniques,” said Ligan.