• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) director, P/Col. Joeresty Coronica, said Sept. 8 he will request about 800 augmentation personnel to help secure the city and visitors during the MassKara Festival celebration from Oct. 1 to 19.
He said he will also recommend a gun ban during the festival highlights and will strictly enforce the no-backpack policy in festival sites, including the city plaza, Bacolod Government Center, Lacson Street, and at Megaworld’s The Upper East.
Coronica said the deployment will depend on the activities, like concerts and if there are celebrities, and areas likely to be crowded.
The signal jamming, on the other hand, will depend on whether President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will be coming, he added.
Checkpoints will also be enforced, and the police will be on heighted alert against the possible proliferation of illegal drugs supply meant for the festival, Coronica said. “We’re expecting ang pagdagsa sang drugs, and coordinating with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, and even the Negros Oriental PPO” to monitor and prevent the shipment of drugs during the MassKara celebration.
He said there is no letup in the campaign against illegal drugs, as BCPO units have been conducting operations every day.
The latest was at around 3:35 a.m. Sept. 8, where the City Drug Enforcement Unit, under the direct supervision of its chief, P/Lt. Col. Antonio Benitez Jr., arrested a high-value individual and seized around 58 grams of suspected shabu, with a standard drug price of P394,400, in a buy-bust operation in Purok Progreso, Barangay Taculing.
At about 1:36 a.m., also yesterday, personnel of Police Station 1 Drug Enforcement Team, led by P/Cpt. Francis Depasucat, nabbed a resident of Barangay 12, and confiscated from him eight grams of suspected shabu, worth P54,400, as per the BCPO report. | CGC
