Following Makati blast Police beef up security at the airport, bus terminals

CEBU, Philippines - Police Regional Office-7 has beefed up the security of terminals, seaports, airports and other vital installations following a bombing of a passenger bus in the country’s financial district Tuesday afternoon killing five people and injured 13 others.

Police authorities have also placed the entire region under full alert status since Tuesday afternoon.

Cebu Provincial Police Office (CCPO) Director Erson Digal said he sent augmentation personnel from the Special Reaction Unit to the Cebu South Bus Terminal to help in the inspection of the passengers’ luggage.

“Sa gate nato nagbutang ta ug duha ka-SRU personnel para ma-inspection ang mga bagahe sa mga pasahero inig dayon nila ug sulod,” Digal told reporters.

Digal refused to divulge the exact number of police personnel deployed at the terminal for security reason.

“Confident ko nga dili mahitabo sa South Bus Terminal ang nahitabo sa EDSA kay tight kaayo ang security didto,” Digal said.

Operatives from the Special Weapons and Tactics in Mandaue City were also deployed at the North Bus Terminal to augment the existing security personnel.

Mandaue City Police Office Director Noel Gillamac said they have also tapped the K-9 unit of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to sanitize the terminal from possible explosive devices.

 “This is to pre-empt any attempts of bombings sa terminal and we will continue doing this,” Gillamac said.

Gillamac added that mobile patrols were also stationed in strategic areas of the terminal. He assured that in spite of the beefing up of the security of the terminal their anti-criminality operations continue.

Mactan Cebu International Airport general manager Nigel Paul Villarete also ordered a stricter security measure at the airport.

Vehicles going to the airport are subjected to visual search on top of the bomb-sniffing dogs deployed at the checkpoint area on the road leading to the airport.

“We appeal for understanding as this is done for public security,” Villarete said.

He also instructed the personnel manning the X-Ray machines at the pre-departure area to be always on alert of possible smuggling of explosives.

PNP Chief Raul Bacalzo ordered all police units to intensify the checkpoints and security operations specifically in soft targets such as vital installations, commercial centers, economic key points, mass transportation systems such as bus stations, railways, seaports and airports using special units such as K-9 and EOD Teams.

Senior Supt. Louie Oppus, deputy regional director for operations, clarified that the security preparations in the region should not a reason for the public to be scared.

“Dili ingon nga nahadlok ta. In region 7, wala jud ta diri mga kasikas on terrorism, but we are ensuring this na mapahugtan o ma-enhance ang atong security measures sa atong region,” he said.

An improvised explosive device exploded in a bus at the Makati City Tuesday afternoon killing five passengers and injured 13 others. Police investigators initially found that the explosive device was a remote-controlled mortar shell using a cellular phone as detonator similar to the ones being used by Muslim terrorists in Mindanao. — (FREEMAN)