CCP bomb drill triggers text panic

Metro Manila residents flooded police calls yesterday after an explosion during a security drill sent jitters and triggered text messaging panic in the wake of the failed weekend mutiny.

"We were swamped with calls about what it was, but it was only a field-training exercise," Senior Police Officer Rey Aguado said.

The cause of panic was a Department of Health (DOH) exercise at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) complex involving police response to bomb attacks.

"It was just a bomb rehearsal," said Jun Herbolario, a technical coordinator of the nearby Philippine International Convention Center.

Police said poor information dissemination of the bomb drill caused panic among concerned Pasay City officials and was further aggravated by irresponsible texters who spread rumors of an alleged explosion.

Senior Superintendent Oscar Catalan, chief of the Pasay City police, told The STAR he was irked that the DOH did not coordinate with their office about the bomb exercise held yesterday morning.

"The DOH did not inform us that they were about to conduct a bomb drill. I only learned about it afterwards. They should have tipped us earlier so we could have informed the public and prevented any unnecessary fears. I think we could have avoided panic if they told us in advance," Catalan said.

Police stations in the area where field training exercises are conducted are usually alerted three days before.

Police officials said Police Community Precincts (PCPs) should be informed beforehand so they can make the necessary preparations.

"There were so many offices, including that of Pasay Mayor Wenceslao Trinidad and the Southern Police District (SPD) that started calling me, trying to confirm if there was indeed an explosion," Catalan said.

The situation worsened just before noon when text messages about the explosion started spreading.

Senior Police Officer 4 Arthur Hidalgo, in charge of the PCP located at the CCP complex, said he doesn’t know if the DOH had coordinated with the PICC administration. The exercise took place between 9 to 11 a.m. yesterday. About 30 ambulances were present.

Hidalgo said there was no cause for panic because they closed a portion of the Vicente Sotto street where the PICC is located.

"After the explosion, the scenario was for the medical staff to pull out the injured people from the PICC and carry them to a waiting ambulance," he said. – With Reuters