POLICE Regional Office 7 (PRO7) Director Brigadier General Roderick Augustus B. Alba on Thursday said he has ordered a stepped-up anti-criminality drive in Central Visayas known as “Oplan: Hulidays” ahead of the traditional observance of Undas in the region.

“We’re intensifying our public safety and law enforcement operations in all places of public convergence as we anticipate a huge number of people to visit their departed ones in public cemeteries and memorial parks in the region,” said the official.

Alba told Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Gen. Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr. that Police Assistance Centers have been put up to assist their Tourist Police in securing known tourist destinations in the region, particularly those in Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, and Negros Oriental.

Central Visayas is home to 116 municipalities, each offering its tourist attractions.

The official said that their region-wide Oplan Hulidays, which started on Wednesday, has so far resulted in the conduct of six anti-narcotics operations, which led to the arrest of eight known drug personalities and the confiscation of nearly P65,000 worth of shabu; one person for illegal possession of firearms; and 21 wanted persons, three of them included in their “most wanted person” or MWP list and remaining 18 wanted.

The massive anti-criminality campaign will run until Wednesday (Nov. 2) next week.

Alba said that his men arrested the 4th MWP in Negros Oriental last Tuesday during a manhunt operation in Barangay Olympia in Bais City.

He said the suspect, a resident of Barangay Poblacion 1 in Tagbilaran City in Bohol, was wanted for a non-bailable rape case and three counts of acts of lasciviousness.

The suspect’s arrest was ordered by Judge Leo Lison of the Tagbilaran City Regional Trial Court Branch 3. No bail was recommended for his rape case, while a P180,000 bail each for the three counts of acts of lasciviousness.

The PRO7 director said two “high-value individuals” (HVIs) in the region were also arrested in separate anti-crime operations this week, which led to the seizure of some P1.7 million worth of shabu.

He said that one of the suspects, a resident of Bulacao, Talisay City in Cebu, yielded an estimated 200 grams of the so-called “poor man’s cocaine” worth P1.360 million when he was accosted by the police in Sikatuna Street in Bgy. Parian in Cebu City 12:10 a.m. Thursday.

It turned out that the suspect was accosted by members of the Cebu City Police Station 1 who were manning a checkpoint in Bgy. Parian. The suspect ignored the checkpoint but was intercepted by rear security personnel and was arrested after he yielded a huge volume of drugs.

The 2nd high-value target from Sitio Proper in Bgy. Ermita, Cebu City, was arrested in a buy-bust operation in Villa Cacao 2 in Bgy. Kinasang-an in the same city last Monday.

The suspect was found in possession of 50 grams of shabu worth P340,000 and the marked money paid to him by an undercover officer from the PRO7 Regional Drug Enforcement Unit.

The two suspects are now facing non-bailable charges for the sale and possession of prohibited drugs under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, said Alba.