Port level security exercises set today

CEBU, Philippines -Land and water-based security exercises will be conducted today by the Cebu Port Authority together with other agencies to ensure that they are ready for any terrorist attacks.

During the Kapihan sa PIA yesterday, Colonel Oscar Lopez, manager for port safety security, said that though they have not received any threats of terrorist attacks, this is just to test their security plans.

Today, they will be testing the capability of the security through the Port Level Joint Security Exercise that is made possible through the coordination of the governments of the Philippines and Australia.

According to Lopez, they have at least a million passengers per month that is “12 million passengers yearly, so security is a top priority.”

Don Anderson, project director for the Australian-Philippine port project, said that they have chosen CPA among other ports because Cebu has always been supportive ever since their work started here in 2004.

Aside from this, he said that CPA plays a big role in the strong Philippine nautical highway.

According to Anderson, they have funded 4.57 million Australian dollars for the whole project including the training and the exercise.

He said that since 2004, there have been major improvements in the security of the ports in Cebu. One example of this is the removal of entities that should not have been operating within the ports.

The live exercise is participated in by different agencies such as the Philippine National Police, Philippine Coastguard, Bureau of Fire Protection, Philippine Navy, Special Weapons and Tactics, and the Department of Health.

The activity will start at 9 a.m. with an opening program at the CPA followed by the land base and sea base setting demonstrations.

The sea base setting which is headed by the Philippine Coastguard will stage a mock attack by terrorists.

Commander Anelito Gabisan, chief of staff and operations officer of the Coast Guard, said that they will show how to react on such instances and demonstrate a hot-pursuit operation and capture of terrorists.

According to the participating agencies, this is one way to prove that the Philippine government is doing something to fight terrorism. — AJ de la Torre/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)