ILOILO CITY – – The Metro Boracay Task Force (MBTF) assured readiness to provide peace and order in Boracay island during Monday’s opening of classes this Monday.
In an interview Friday, Supt. Jesus Cambay Jr., Deputy Regional Director for Operations of the Police Regional Office 6 (Western Visayas) and concurrent commander of MBTF, vowed to increase police visibility outside the schools and other strategic areas to ensure that “students are safe from their schools going back to their houses.”
He added that he also directed all the cops to help secure the smooth flow of traffic outside the schools, especially that there are ongoing demolition and rehabilitation of roads in the island.
Meantime, Cambay said that classrooms that were used as temporary barracks of 138 policemen who were deployed in Boracay are already being vacated.
He said that these policemen are transferring to some houses they have rented.
Cambay said that they are targeting to pull-out all these policemen from the classrooms and transfer them to their new space before Saturday.
According to Cambay, he directed these policemen to make sure that they clean the classrooms before they left them.
“It must be more neat and clean than the first time they came to the classrooms,” he said.
Cambay noted the strong support from the community because they have received accommodation offers from them.
Particularly in the village of Balabag, he said an individual offered them a medium boarding house that can accommodate around 44 policemen.
“They lend it for free and they also even offered their e-trike,” he said.
Cambay also said that they have already identified an area in the villages of Yapak and Manoc-manoc where they will construct temporary housing for cops.
Cambay also mentioned that they will be establishing community assistance centers in each of the three villages covering the island.
He said that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) have already identified the areas where these centers will be established.
“They are strategically located along the main highway,” he said.
More than a month since the closure and rehabilitation of Boracay, Cambay said that the island remains peaceful.
He noted that there is only a minimum of two crimes recorded weekly based on their monitoring.(Cindy Ferrer/PNA)
