• CHERYL G. CRUZ
P/Col. Joeresty Coronica, director of the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO), said Sept. 24 that 1,819 personnel will be deployed to ensure peace and order during the MassKara Festival celebration in Bacolod, from Oct. 1-19.
Coronica said in a press conference yesterday that 600 of personnel to be deployed are augmentation forces from the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (PPO), Negros Oriental PPO, and Siquijor PPO, while P300 will come from the Police Regional Office in Western Visayas.
“Because this is the first time that we’re celebrating the MassKara with the BCPO now under the PRO-Negros Island Region, nakita sang regional office nga kulang ang ma augment from PPOs under PRO-NIR” since Negros Oriental will also celebrate its Buglasan Festival from Oct. 16 to 26, hence the request for additional cops from PRO6, he said.
“We expect also that during the Dinagyang Festival (of Iloilo), we will be helping them, ma deploy man kita personnel,” Coronica added.
He also said that festivalgoers will have to pass through controlled sites, like at the Bacolod public plaza, where kiosks will be offering alcoholic beverages.
There will be no container vans for intoxicated revelers, but Coronica assured that the police will ensure that peace and order will be maintained at the plaza.
Atty. Reuben Mikhael Sabig of the Bacolod Traffic and Transport Management Department (BTTMD); Dr. Anna Maria Laarni Pornan, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, and F/Supt. Jenny Mae Masip, city fire marshal of the Bacolod Fire Station, said they are also prepared to assist the organizer in ensuring a smooth and successful MassKara.
Security and safety have always been at the core of the festival, the Bacolod Gugma Foundation Inc. said, adding that a series of coordination meetings were held between and among the BCPO, BFP, DRRMO, BTTMD, and the organizer to ensure a successful celebration. | CGC
