THE Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB) 7 has sent 250 police personnel to help members of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) intensify the enforcement of minimum health standards to slow down the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the city.
According to Col. Robert Lingbawan, RMFB 7 head, the 250 members of the augmentation force are fully vaccinated.
He said he doesn’t know where they will be deployed, adding that it will be up to CCPO Director Josefino Ligan.
“There is a coordinated plan of deployment in Cebu City, but it will be up to the CCPO how or where it will deploy the augmented personnel from the RMFB,” Lingbawan said in Tagalog.
He assured that the deployment of 250 RMFB 7 personnel will not affect their directive, which is to conduct internal security operations in the mountains.
He said they can also send an augmentation force to the Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) if CPPO Director Engelbert Soriano needs their assistance.
However, Soriano had said they don’t need additional police personnel. He said police in the province are able to set up border controls.
Lingbawan said the RMFB 7 will also help conduct checkpoints in the province to make sure quarantine guidelines are enforced.
Meanwhile, Lingbawan said 15 members of the RMFB 7 tested positive for Covid-19, including two officials who are currently confined in a hospital. The 13 others have been placed in isolation since they don’t have any symptoms save for the loss of smell and taste.
He said almost 100 percent of RMFB 7 personnel are fully vaccinated. He hopes that by the end of the month, all will have gotten the two injections of the vaccine against Covid-19. (AYB / PJB)