Canadian gov’t sponsors training on explosives disposal

THE Canadian government partnered with the Armed Forces to host a training course on chemical and explosives systems exploitation which began last Tuesday.

Fifty-five personnel from the Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the AFP attended the training course.

Ken Pirie, Head of Health, Safety, Security and Environment Programs at the Defense Research and Development Canada (DRDC), was the invited speaker for the course.

Pirie said the training is an offshoot of the Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) Summit six years ago.

Pirie said their defense minister was asked by countries such as the Philippines to conduct this training.

At the time, Canada was the only country in the world that has this type of national program.

“This is part of our counter-terrorism program that begins with basic CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radioactive and Nuclear Explosives), intermediate CBRNE, the level to which the Philippine responders are now trained. And now this is advance capability for bomb technicians, EOD operators and police investigators,” he said.

Apart from creating a pool of trainers for Visayas, the training course also aims to reinforce the knowledge of responders that old war materials can be reused by terrorists.

“They may be more dangerous than they first appear. Plus we have the terrorist angle where terrorists do use and re-weaponize this recovered product from,” Pirie said.

Pirie told Cebu Daily News that the Canadian government plans to donate machines to enhance more the capability of responders.

“We’re in the process of delivering very expensive and high tech x-ray systems that will be spread throughout the country to the capability,” he said.

These X-ray systems costs about $50,000 each.

The three-day training course allowed the participants to get themselves acquainted with the different types of explosives that could be used by terrorists in planned attacks and how, as first responders should they react and handle it.

For the second day, participants got the chance to witness how chemical bombs when blown, dissolve in the air.

They were also allowed to witness the impact of the blast of an old re-weaponized bomb.

The 55 participants had finished their training course last Thursday.

This program is under the counter terrorism program of the Canadian government.

The country is among the countries that are beneficiaries of this program. Other countries include Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

This is the third leg conducted in the Philippines.

Prior to Cebu, trainings were also held in Manila and Davao. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus