Newly appointed Bohol Provincial Police Office (BPPO) director Col. Lorenzo Batuan expressed alarm over the spate of road mishaps in Bohol in the previous weeks prompting him to call out the province’s 48 police chiefs.

Batuan, during his weekly press briefing on Tuesday, directed the province’s police station commanders to come up with “proactive measures” to curb traffic-related incidents which led to injuries, damage to property, and deaths.

“Atong gitawag ang atensyon sa atong kapulisan. Ato silang gisugo to coordinate with other government agencies such as the DPWH ug sa ilang mga local government units para magdugang og mga signages,” said Batuan.

Data from the BPPO showed that in a span of a week from November 14 to November 20, 2022 some 40 traffic-related incidents were recorded in 20 localities in the province.

Some 24 of the incidents led to injuries, 14 resulted in property damages, and two caused the death of two persons.

 The highest number of recorded incidents were in Tagbilaran City, which had five incidents, and Panglao and Lila which had four each.

Batuan said 34 of the cases have been solved while two were cleared and two others remained unsolved.

The police chief attributed the rise in traffic-related incidents to the lifting of movement restrictions which were imposed for nearly two years starting when the pandemic broke out in early 2020.

“Usa sa rason na akong nakita kay for the past two years grabe ang restriction nato unya karon nibalik og normal ang atong sitwasyon mao daghang insidente napud sa atong mga kadalanan,” said Batuan.

According to Batuan, they will coordinate with Land Transportation Office to deputize more police to apprehend traffic violators, which is solely under the jurisdiction of the LTO.

The deputization of police personnel means they can confiscate driver’s licenses and impound vehicles in case of traffic laws violations.

“Maghimo mi lain na seminar para ma deputize atong kapulisan sa LTO kay sa pagkakaron wala tay deputized, only ang Highway Patrol Group pero atong mga kapulisan sa kalungsuron kulang sila og ngipon aron ma control ang traffic violations,” said Batuan.

Batuan intends to organize the process by January next year as such deputization would only last by the end of a year.

He noted that if cops are deputized this year, this would only be effective until the end of December. (RT)