PNP: Boracay ‘threat’ drill meant to make tourists feel safe

BORACAY ISLAND, Aklan — The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Wednesday said the security threat exercises conducted on this island was meant to make tourists safe.

A day before the scheduled Boracay closure, government security forces led by the PNP simulated security threats and demonstrated how the interagency task force would respond to these.

Security forces simulated responses to emergency situations such as violent rallies, kidnapping and hostage-taking situation that may happen during the six-month closure of the resort island as ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte.

But the PNP clarified that such threat response exercises were periodically conducted by the police amid criticisms that it was overkill.

“I think mag-kakaroon pa nga ito ng positive effect because the people will feel na secure pala yung island,” PNP Deputy Chief for Operations General Fernando Mendez said.

Mendez said the deployment of additional forces in Boracay would ensure that both the national and local government will be peaceful.

“The very reason that we’re deploying additional forces is to make sure that the closure will be peaceful and we can provide an environment that will ensure the unhampered tuloy tuloy po na rehabilitasyon na gagawin ng iba’t-ibang ahensiya ng gobyerno para ‘yung kanilang deadline or target dates ay ma meet nila,” he added.

The national government is expected to officially close Boracay to tourists with or without an executive order from the President.

It was not clear whether Duterte had already signed the order as deputies of national government agencies scrambled to provide a detailed rehabilitation plan.

The island will be off-limits to tourists at 12:01 AM on Thursday, April 26.   /muf