The Baguio City Police Office has strengthened its border control measures, this time against those circumventing the protocol on “passing through” travelers.
BCPO Chief, Col. Glenn Lonogan, said the police have become strict on travelers who claim to be passing only through Baguio but are not actually leaving through the city’s exit points.
Lonogan said the BCPO has observed some residents pose as passing through travelers to avoid the city’s requirements on returning residents, among which are registration and undergoing triage.
He said officers supervising the city’s borders have intensified its monitoring on passing through travelers who are given entry passes to make sure they will submit the forms at the border where they are supposed to exit.
“We started giving forms to passing through travelers at the points of entry to Baguio and make sure these passes are surrendered at the exit points,” he said.
Lonogan said BCPO will take legal actions against those found to have repeatedly circumvented the city government’s entry guidelines.
BCPO Operations Officer, Lt./Col. Domingo Gambican, said additional personnel have been deployed at the city’s borders along Palispis-Aspiras Highway, Quirino Highway, and at Asin-Nangalisan-San Pascual Road, which is being used as the entry by residents who want to avoid the requirements on entering Baguio.
He said it was observed that in 200 passing through travelers who are checked at the borders, only seven to eight percent are being monitored at the exit points.
Gambican said this time, police personnel issuing the forms to passing through travelers call their counterparts at the exit points to make sure the entry passes are submitted.
Fully vaccinated residents and tourists are now allowed to enter Baguio without having to present RT-PCR or antigen test with negative results, but they are still required to register with the city’s online registration platforms before their trip and undergo triage upon their arrival to the city. – Jane B. Cadalig
April 18, 2024
