Cebu City police chiefs train for IEC security

Refresher courses on hostage-taking held, scenarios of armed robberies played out

The chiefs of 11 police stations in Cebu City and the members of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) are undergoing training and refresher courses as part of their preparations for next month’s hosting of the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) in the city.

Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, chief of the Regional Directorial Staff in the Police Regional Office-7 (PRO-7), said the seminars center on critical incident management and contingency training especially in dealing with police response to critical situations like armed robberies and hostage-taking incidents.

“It is necessary especially during emergencies that efforts and procedures in terms of response should be integrated from the local territorial police units and the SWAT. We are looking at particular scenarios like hostage-taking, armed robberies, shooting incidents and/or scenarios like bomb threats,” Lawas said.

Speakers and trainers for the seminars include police experts in the field of critical incident management and contingency training.

The police chiefs undergoing the seminars include Chief Insp. Errol Francis Deveryra, Parian police station chief; Senior Insp. Hartzel Billedo, Fuente police station chief; Chief Insp. Jose Gesto, Waterfront police station chief; Chief Insp. Allan Madrid Rosario, Mabolo police station chief; and Chief Insp. Noel Lomente, Carbon police station chief.

Around 15,000 are expected to attend the 51st IEC to be held from Jan. 24 to 31, 2016 in Cebu City.

According to Margarita Matheu, chairperson of the Cebu Archdiocese’s general secretariat, nearly 60 countries are represented in the official list of IEC delegates with Taiwan (as of Saturday) having the biggest delegation of 55 individuals, followed by Canada and the US.