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[av_heading heading=’Are Iloilo City policemen ready for bomb attack? ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
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Friday, November 10, 2017
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ILOILO City – The Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) conducted a security drill simulating a bomb threat and attack yesterday at the public plaza of Molo.
Police station personnel and those of the ICPO’s Explosive and Ordnance Division demonstrated how they would handle the situation, said Superintendent Efren Lozada, deputy director for administration of the ICPO.
Just this Tuesday around 5:30 p.m., an unattended bag at the Freedom Grandstand caused people to panic.
“We need to conduct exercises to calibrate our policemen’s readiness in handling this kind of situation,” said Lozada.
So how did yesterday’s simulation exercise go?
Lozada noted areas where policemen needed to improve their response. These included crowd control management and perimeter security.
The police must control the crowd; they must not be allowed to get close to the area where the bomb is, Lozada stressed.
Policemen should be quick in cordoning the area, said Lozada, to protect people in case the bomb explodes.
On Nov. 7, a bag left next to an electrical post near the Freedom Grandstand was suspected to contain an explosive. Police and the Iloilo City Emergency Response (ICER) team went on alert and restricted access to the area.
An ICER personnel found the bag. Police’s explosives and ordnance operatives were called.
Officers inspected the bag but found no explosive, only clothes, said Senior Inspector Jose Val Ladublan, Police Station 1 chief.
Later the owner arrived – the 20-year-old Maximo Palima of Tinambangan, Camarines Sur.
Palima, who was temporarily staying with a certain “Rudy” on Muelle Loney Street, said he “accidentally” left the bag.
According to Palima, he was in the city to look for a job and Rudy offered him to drive a trisikad.
Palima was taken to Police Station 1. He brought the bag with him. After a brief interrogation, he was released./PN
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