BACOLOD CITY –– Personnel of the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) are exercising caution in apprehending loitering residents in line with the anti-tambay campaign of the government, the police chief here said.
“We are cautious. We cannot arrest anyone na nakatambay lang, wala naman ginagawang violation (We cannot arrest anyone who is just loitering and not committing any violation),” said Senior Superintendent Francisco Ebreo, acting director of BCPO, in a press conference on Friday.
“We want to assure the public that their rights will not be violated,” he added.
Ebreo said that even before President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to apprehend loiterers, policemen in Bacolod have already been enforcing related local ordinances.
“Our policemen know how to implement the directive. We have local ordinances and we are implementing those,” he said.
These include the ordinances on curfew for minors and smoking ban in public places.
“We’re implementing these (ordinances) the right way. We don’t want to be like the policemen who were relieved because they had a wrong interpretation of the directive,” the police chief said.
Ebreo said city policemen also call out persons who do not have upper garments, but they cannot arrest them since there is no ordinance against such kind of behavior.
There is also no ordinance against drinking in public places in Bacolod.
“So we are lobbying with the City Council for that ordinance,” Ebreo said.
On Thursday, Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde reiterated his instructions for field units not to deviate from standard procedures in enforcing city and municipal ordinances regarding crackdown on loiterers.
They should be guided by police operational procedures and should work closely with barangay officials in enforcing the local laws, he added. (PNA)
