50 officers beef up Oton police in ASF drive

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By Jennifer P. Rendon 

Fifty police officers augmented the Oton Police Station as the provincial government has heightened its campaign to contain the spread of the African Swine Fever (ASF).

Colonel Noel Aliño, Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) chief, said the augmentation force is a composite of personnel from the IPPO headquarters, different police stations, and mobile force companies.

Their main task is to man ASF border checkpoints within and near the vicinity of Oton, where the first confirmed case of ASF in Iloilo province was reported.

They would also be responsible for traffic control.

“There might be traffic build-up in areas where we would conduct ASF control checkpoints,” Aliño said.

With the guidance of Governor Arthur Defensor, Jr., the IPPO has devised a traffic plan in anticipation of vehicle congestion.

Aliño clarified that the ASF quarantine checkpoints are placed in coordination with the local government units and other government agencies.

“We are bent on containing the ASF spread. Mahirap kasi ‘pag kumalat na. Our policemen might not be enough to man more ASF control checkpoints,” he said.

Aliño has also been consistently doing ocular inspections at ASF control checkpoints in the province.