Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar and NCRPO chief Dir. Oscar Albayalde. INQUIRER file photo / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
In order to effectively quell security threats, the Metro Manila police should improve its response to terror attacks and emergency situations, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Dir. Oscar Albayalde said on Thursday.
Albayalde, together with Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista and Quezon City Police director Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, led the NCRPO’s first simulation drill this year at the Araneta Center in Cubao to assess the preparedness of the police force during terror attacks and other security situations.
Albayalde said that the NCR police force also needed to particularly improve its crowd control procedures as members of the media were able to cross the police line during the exercises and only two policemen had been handling the crowd.
“We have to be realistic as [much as] possible para makita natin kung ano pa talaga yung pagkukulang gaya kanina yung mga media practitioners natin nakalapit sa bus,” he said.
(We have to be realistic as [much as] possible in the simulation exercises so that we will see the shortcomings, like how media practitioners were able to approach the bus earlier.)
The incoming Philippine National Police (PNP) chief said that operatives should learn lessons from the Luneta hostage-taking incident in 2010, in which the police failed to handle the crowd and to coordinate with concerned agencies.
“Kailangan fertile yung ating imagination kung ano pa ang pwedeng mangyari at para macorrect natin at maiwasan natin mangyari ito in the future,” he added.
(Our imagination should be fertile of the possible things that could happen so that we can correct and prevent this from happening in the future.)
Albayalde said that the police would continue to strengthen its target hardening or crime prevention measures through preparation and prevention and not wait for attacks to happen.
The simulation exercises included scenarios on bomb threat, hostage-taking and terror attack, among others.
Other agencies and units that took part in the drill were: the QCPD Command Group, Explosive Ordinance Division, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team, Scene of the Crime Operatives, District Health Service Team; Quezon City Red Cross and Disaster Risk Reduction Management Center; Bureau of Fire Protection; Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Joint Task Force-NCR; Intelligence Service of the AFP; and Barangays Socorro and E. Rodriguez.
Albayalde said that the NCRPO would conduct similar drills in all Metro Manila districts. /jpv