BACOLOD City – The Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) will file charges against individuals forging and selling fake travel passes.
Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Pico, BCPO spokesperson, issued this warning amid reports of bogus travel passes circulating in the city.
According to Pico, they have not monitored production of fake travel passes in the city so far. His warning, he said, was just to preempt individuals from even thinking about it.
A travel pass is one of the requirements for locally stranded individual (LSIs) bound for this city. It is needed to travel across provinces or regions across the country under general community quarantine or modified general community quarantine.
To secure this, LSIs must have a medical certificate from the city health office and a barangay certification that they have no coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) symptoms for the past 14 days before the day of travel.
Anybody caught producing fake travel pass or doing such illegal act to return in this city will be facing stiff penalties, according to Pico.
He encouraged the public to report those manufacturing or using fake travel passes.
In a related development, Councilor Cindy Rojas, chairperson of the Action Team on non-overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), said the travel of LSIs within Western Visayas remains unhampered.
More than 200 locally stranded individuals arrived in Bacolod City recently since the moratorium on their return ended Monday.
Those from Iloilo City are only required to register with the Bacolod City COVID-19 Contact Tracing System and present identification cards./PN
