GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The Police Regional Office 12 (Soccsksargen) declared the observance of “Undas” or All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day in the entire region as “generally peaceful and orderly.”
Chief Supt. Eliseo Tam Rasco, PRO-12 director, said on Saturday that local police units have not recorded any significant untoward incident directly related to the two-day annual holidays on Thursday and Friday.
Rasco attributed the accomplishment to the early preparations and proper implementation by police and support units of their comprehensive security plan for “Ligtas Undas 2018”.
He also cited their partnership with local government units, concerned government agencies, and volunteer groups, as well as the cooperation of local residents.
PRO-12 earlier deployed more than 6,500 police personnel and peacekeeping volunteers to secure cemeteries and public areas for the “Undas”.
The deployment consisted of 4,094 active police commissioned officers and non-commissioned officers and 2,453 force multipliers composed of barangay peacekeeping teams and local volunteer groups.
The Department of Health, Philippine Red Cross, Bureau of Fire Protection, and the Army-led Joint Task Force GenSan also deployed support teams to local cemeteries.
“It only shows that if we just cooperate with each other, we will surely have peaceful and safe communities,” Rasco said.
During the “Undas” operations, the PRO-12 chief said police personnel confiscated at least 62 bladed weapons at the entry points of cemeteries.
On Nov. 1 alone, the official said their personnel recorded that an estimated 118,600 residents visited 152 public and private cemeteries in the region.
Rasco said the deployed police personnel withdrew from the cemeteries on Saturday morning and were reassigned to various places of public convergence, such as shopping malls, public terminals, and beach resorts.
“This is in anticipation of the influx of people in these places after the celebration of Undas,” he added. (PNA)
