‘Bomb alarm’ disrupts meeting

CEBU, Philippines - Alerted by a report of a blinking material in a restroom, policemen and government workers joining the final inter-agency meeting for ASEAN security preparations scampered their way out of the venue at the Cebu Ports Authority compound yesterday morning.

Participants were made to leave the hall as quick as possible as K-9 units checked on the blinking object.

“We wondered why we were asked to go out immediately because they had to check on something,” Cebu City Councilor David Tumulak, deputy mayor on police matters, told The FREEMAN.

Upon verification, the blinking material thought to be an explosive device turned out to be an electronic air freshener wrapped in plastic inside a trash bin.

“No bomb was found in the establishment,” said Yusop Uckung, CPA legal division chief.

Reyjie Mark Puyos, a maintenance worker at the venue, told reporters he forgot to put the air freshener back to its place after leaving it in the trash bin last June 23.

“Nalimtan nako ba nga kato siya, dapat dili ibutang sa basurahan. Human og butang sa basurahan, kuhaon unta nako, pero nalimtan nako,” Puyos said.

Puyos said the electronic air freshener dispenses scent to neutralize bad odor in the restroom every two minutes and it naturally blinks.

But even if the alarm turned negative, the situation succeeded in causing a little panic among some attendees, especially in the light of reports circulating on the social media about a supposed bomb attack on June 30, as well as a possible terrorist spillover from war-stricken areas.

Yet according to Police Regional Office-7 Director Chief Superintendent Noli Taliño, everything was only part of a drill meant to check the responsiveness of his personnel for the upcoming Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings here in Cebu.

“Drill ito. Nagsimula yung drill kanina. May situation lang na ibinigay sa atin, at yun ang in-address natin,” he said.

In his assessment, Taliño said deployment of the nearest explosive ordnance division (EOD) needed improvement.

“Hindi pa nakapag-react ang EOD ng Mandaue, considering na sila ang pinakamalapit na may EOD K-9,” he said.

Talino said they hope to apply what they learned from the exercise when untoward incidents occur during the hosting of the ASEAN senior officials’ meetings, for which more than 5,000 police personnel, including augmentation forces, will be deployed in the cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, and Mandaue.

Dubbed as Task Group Cebu, the deployment group will be divided into three sub-groups: peace and order task group, emergency and response task group, and security task group.

BFP ready

For its part, the Bureau of Fire Protection in Central Visayas will also deploy more than a thousand of its personnel for the meetings.

BFP-7 Director Senior Superintendent Samuel Tadeo said he has requested additional personnel from their head office in Manila to be fielded in Cebu during the event.

Some 30 strategic response units from the National Capital Region will be deployed here while 19 emergency vehicles, along with fire trucks and special rescue vehicles, will also be dispatched.

“Tuloy-tuloy ang coordination natin with regard sa deployment ng mga tao natin. May mga personnel din kaming ni-request sa national department na ipapadala dito na taga-NCR,” Tadeo told reporters on the sidelines of a coordination meeting between BFP officials and building owners and operators yesterday.

More preparations

The provincial government has also joined calls to step up security for the upcoming ASEAN meetings.

Roberto Legaspi, head of the Capitol Civil Security Unit, said areas of public convergence like the Cebu South Bus Terminal and the Capitol compound will be closely watched.

“We want to be vigilant in South Bus, where our constituents are actually going on a daily basis, where there is a big crowd. Not only that, but also in LGUs (local government units), in our hospitals, and other properties,” Legaspi said.

"We have no threats but we're just being vigilant,” he added.

Cebu is hosting the second round of ASEAN ministerial meetings from July 3 to 7; the first round happened in the first week of April this year.

Police have declined to divulge the names of hotels where the meetings will be held, as well as the itinerary of the participants, for security reasons.

As to the possibility of shutting down cellphone signal during the hosting, Taliño said they have yet to coordinate with their intelligence personnel to determine if there is such a need.

The sendoff ceremony for the security detail for the ASEAN meetings will take place on June 30. — Mae Clydyl L. Avila with Christell Fatima M. Tudtud and Apple Grace C. Danuco (FREEMAN)