With that, many travelers can’t help but share real-time updates on social media.
However, police warn that what they think is just a harmless post online may inadvertently encourage burglars to break into their homes while they are away.
Oversharing
During the Openline Forum on Tuesday, April 5, 2023, Lt. Col. Gerard Ace Pelare, the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 director’s spokesman, said they discourage the public from giving away information about their whereabouts by oversharing “at-the-moment” updates on the internet.
He said doing so may compromise the poster’s safety and security.
He stressed that criminals will take the opportunity to plan out and execute their crimes with the help of the information posted online.
“Opportunity is instrumental in crimes. If you provide opportunities to criminals, they will really use it,” said Pelare, adding his encouragement to set up security measures.
He urged the public, especially those who will leave their homes during Holy Week, to set up closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to keep watch on their properties.
“We should always be wary of the unscrupulous individuals who might take advantage of the situation like through thieveries… robberies,” said Pelare.
4,000 police officers
In anticipation of the thousands of people returning to their hometowns or traveling to vacation spots, the PRO 7 is on high alert.
To assure security during the Holy Week celebrations, more than 4,000 police officers will be deployed throughout Central Visayas, which groups Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor.
According to Pelare, they will maximize their presence in places often visited by travelers during the Holy Week, including Bantayan Island, the Camotes Islands and Moalboal, Badian, and Oslob towns in southern Cebu.
He affirmed that it is an extra challenge for the police to closely monitor all the places mentioned, especially Moalboal where resorts are located just next to each other.
“We encourage people when they will have their vacation, to have a ready number for police officers or police stations,” he said.
“If they can drop by police stations to pre-coordinate, that would be much better for us,” he added.
The police will also look to secure the municipality of Minganilla, which will celebrate the popular Sugat-Kabanhawan Festival on Easter Sunday, April 9.
Holy Week is from Palm Sunday, April 2, to Holy Saturday, April 8.
Maundy Thursday and Good Friday on April 6 and 7 are regular holidays going into the Easter weekend, traditionally giving Filipinos a four-day break.
This year, however, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. extended the break to Monday, after he moved the April 9 Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor) holiday to Monday, April 10, to encourage domestic travel and increase tourism expenditures under the principle of holiday economics.
