BAGUIO CITY— The Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) has come up with its integrated security package and personnel augmentation to secure athletes and tourists who will be in the city for the two major sporting events this September, City police director Senior Supt. Ramil Saculles said in a press conference on Tuesday.
“The security package includes emergency response, route security, traffic and reaction unit,” Saculles said.
He said that the move is a best practice of the BCPO which it would again implement for the “Milo Little Olympics” on Sept. 7 to 9 and the “Batang Pinoy 2018” finals from Sept. 15 to 21.
The little olympics expects about 5,000 participants joining 15 sports events while the “Batang Pinoy” expects about 7,000 participants for the 28 events.
Saculles explained that the conduct of the two events would cover three weekends, a more toxic than the traffic condition in the city during weekdays.
Saculles said that they will provide about 200 police personnel, most of whom are trained Tourist-Oriented Police for Community Order and Protection (TOP-COP) program.
Some 40 personnel, he said, would be assigned in the various tourist destinations while the 160 provide security to the 14 billeting schools and venues in the city.
The preparation is to maintain Baguio’s tag as one of the safest cities in Southeast Asia, and protect everybody as well.
The BCPO had in the past proven its capability to handle major events with thousands of tourist during the annual celebration of the Panagbenga and the city’s hosting of the events of the international beauty pageant “Miss Universe”. The BCPO’s security preparation is also consistently enhanced for a more secured place.
With the road congestion expected, Saculles appealed to the public to comply with the rules and regulations to minimize the effect of the traffic congestion. He also urged the vehicle owners to park only on designated parking areas to prevent aggravating the congestion of the roads.
“To our visitors, locals, we have to abide with the traffic regulations, we are doing our best to minimize the hassle of traffic congestion, we will strictly reinforce traffic rules and regulations,” he said.
Meanwhile, councilor Elmer Datuin, chairman for tourism, said that he is hoping for more sport events to be conducted in the city of pines.
“I’m hoping that we will have a lot of sports event here in our city, since we are promoting sports tourism,” Datuin said. (Pamela Mariz Geminiano/PNA)
