BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
ILOILO City – Today, over 4,000 public elementary and high schools across Western Visayas are opening their doors to an estimated 1.5 million students. Their safety is the police’s top priority.
In this city, the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) has a practical safety tip to students: Don’t talk to or go with strangers.
These strangers could be Budol-budol Gang members, snatchers or pickpockets, warned Senior Supt. Ruperto Floro, city police director.
For elementary pupils, Floro has this suggestion: “Go only with your guardians or those your parents told you will be fetching you from school. Don’t go with persons you do not know.”
Elementary and high school students are most vulnerable to kidnappers and other lawless elements, Floro said.
“It is easy to pretend to be a relative or friend of the child’s parents. To the parents, monitor your children. To the teachers, do not allow your students to leave the school without companions,” he added.
The ICPO has assigned policemen to guard various schools across the city.
Transport terminals will also be posted with policemen “because we expect more commuters and students in the said areas,” said Floro.
The city police director urged students to report to police assistance desks set up in their schools any person acting suspiciously, and even those bullying them.
“We have assigned policemen in schools to attend to their complaints,” he said.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency will also be posting personnel near schools.
According to Senior Insp. Gilbert Gorero, spokesperson of the ICPO, itinerant vendors and pedicabs will not be allowed to hover near schools.
They have to observe a distance of at least 50 meters from schools, Gorero stressed./PN
