CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Central Luzon police has been doubling its efforts to prevent possible cases of looting and burglary as Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) remains in effect.
Police Regional Director PBGen Rhodel Sermonia said that because of the “no work, no pay” situation and constraint movement of the public, they are anticipating that desperate individuals may turn to looting and even robberies of unguarded commercial establishments including supermarkets, grocery stores, warehouses and related food banks due to scarcity of essential supply or basic commodities.
“Our contingency plans are in placed against crimes on property since some owners of establishments have decided to temporarily stop their operations while some have limited hours of operations and there are no security personnel on guard,” Sermonia added.
The utilization of the Patrulya ng Bayan and force multipliers is also being carried out to deter the occurrence of looting and robberies.
Meanwhile, the official disclosed that with the stern implementation of the checkpoints, about 1,042 individuals were already denied entry along the boundaries of Region 3 due to non-presentation of required documents during inspection.
ECQ, meant to curb the rising number of cases of the coronavirus disease, will be implemented in the entire Luzon from March 17 to April 13.