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Friday, January 6, 2017
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CEBU City – Police held a bombing simulation in preparation for the Sinulog Festival on Jan. 15.
The city government is on guard following the fatal detonation of an improvised explosive device (IED) in Hilongos, Leyte during the town’s fiesta.
In a simulated scenario on Wednesday, the Cebu City Police Office received a report that an explosive was detonated at the crowded Fuente Osmeña rotunda.
Police on board patrol cars with wailing sirens responded. They were followed by ambulances, ordnance and explosives experts, K9 units, soldiers, firefighters, and a Special Weapons and Tactics team.
The “wounded” were evacuated, while K9 units searched the area for a “secondary bomb,” the presence of which was “confirmed” by bomb-sniffing dogs.
“Everything went on smoothly, but we don’t have bomb suits to protect our explosives team,” said Senior Superintendent Joel Doria, city police director.
Other first responders were unable to reach the simulation scene due to heavy traffic, said the police officer.
Senior Superintendent Rey Lyndon Lawas, deputy director for operations of the Police Regional Office 7 (PRO-7), said they were not satisfied with the results of the simulation.
“I will recommend to the PRO-7 that the drill be repeated until the [city police] perfect it,” Lawas said.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña considers the bombing in Leyte last week a “very big threat.” Thirty-four people were injured in the incident.
He asked the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to jam devices at the Cebu City Sports Center grandstand, where Sinulog contingents put on a show for the judges.
The grandstand can accommodate around 10,000 people.
“I wanted to make the grandstand a dead spot because [IEDs] can’t detonate without a signal,” said the mayor. “But I didn’t get any response.”
Meanwhile Gov. Hilario Davide III is not completely amenable to Osmeña’s plan to jam communication signals.
The governor acknowledged that big events that draw visitors such as Sinulog are always a concern security-wise.
But “communication is very important, especially for security,” Davide said. “[It] is critical, especially [among] law enforcement groups — the police, the military, even government offices and officials.”
Capitol donated P3 million in financial assistance to the Sinulog Foundation, Inc., the festival organizer.
Provincial Treasurer Emmanuel Guial said the amount was taken from the 2016 annual budget and forwarded to the foundation in December last year.
Organizers may receive future capitol financial aid as long as they liquidate the expenses charged to the previous monetary aid, he said. (PNA)
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