: The Cebu City Police Office wants K9 teams and bomb squads for police stations, especially in light of the recent bomb scare in several schools in Cebu City.
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA
THE need for bomb-sniffing dogs was keenly felt last Tuesday when several schools in Cebu City received phone calls warning of the presence of a bomb.
The Cebu City Police Office has already requested K9 bomb-sniffing dogs from Camp Crame and the city government.
But according to Cebu City Police Director, Supt. Joel Doria, CCPO is still capable of responding to any bomb-related incident.
But Doria emphasized that having a K9 team isn’t easy.
“The bomb suit alone could cost about P6 million. Then we have to request also for an X-ray machine which is also very expensive,” said Doria.
Doria said acquiring K9 dogs is easy. The hard part is to make sure that the dogs are well-maintained.
Currently, the CCPO only has one qualified bomb squad official, Chief Insp. Jacinto Mandal.
“We are requesting for more trainings because, ideally, each police station should have a bomb squad. Each team should have two personnel,” said Doria.
Meanwhile, police traced the owner of the cell phone number used to call the schools to Ilagan, Isabela. CCPO is now coordinating with their counterparts there.
Based on the caller ID, the cell phone number of the caller was 0935-1080039.
“From what we learned, the owner of the cell phone is from Ilagan, Isabela. But the owner said he lost the phone two months ago. Now, we will investigate to find out why the series of bomb threats were made in Cebu, who’s the person behind the threats and why did he target schools,” Doria said.
Doria said he has already instructed the Police Community Relations office to coordinate with school officials to review their security measures.
“The police will conduct some sort of a refresher to teach school officials and the parents on what to do in case similar cases happen again,” said Doria.
Yesterday, the police distributed leaflets containing tips on what to do during emergencies.
Doria assured there is no direct threat in Cebu City and what happened last Tuesday was a plain hoax.
“There is no cause for alarm,” Doria said.