ILOILO City – Is the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) ready to address security challenges vis-à-vis the May 13 midterm elections?
A simulation exercise for this was held on April 26 at the Iloilo Business Park in Mandurriao district.
ICPO’s Explosive and Ordnance Division was joined by personnel from the city’s Bureau of Fire Protection, the city government’s Iloilo City Emergency Response and Armed Forces of the Philippines.
“We checked our readiness to address several scenarios,” said ICPO director Police Colonel Martin Defensor.
The scenarios simulated included a fire at a polling precinct, bomb explosion, earthquake, hostage-taking, and bank robbery.
Defensor said the participants were a bit slow.
“Medyo maluya ang response. Hindi ‘yun ang pinag-usapan namin during the pre-exercise briefing. Dapat masigasig sila,” said Defensor.
For her part, ICPO spokesperson Police Captain Shella Mae Sangrines said there was a need to improve crowd control.
“During such incidents we should control the crowd. They must be kept at a distance from the scene,” she said. (With a report from Ruby Silubrico/PN)
