Taliño: stay alert but don’t panic

TALIÑO

Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO 7), advised people in the region to stay alert but not to panic after the entire country was placed under terror alert level 3, a warning that a deadly terror attack is imminent “within a short period of time.”

“It means terror attack is possible,” Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the PRO 7 said in a press statement.

He said the police are expected to conduct frequent checkpoints on strategic areas and random searches on motorists and raids on the hideouts of suspected terrorists.

Additional policemen will be deployed at the different seaports, airports and terminals to implement the tightened security coverage, Taliño said.

“PRO 7 also made the assurance that Central Visayas is still safe and secured. Presently, there is no cause for alarm despite the terror threats in the country because the Philippine National Police, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other counterparts are doing their best to secure the country,” he said.

Taliño encouraged the public to report to the nearest police station the presence of suspicious-looking people or any unusual activities, including unattended luggages.

Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on Thursday said the entire country has been placed under terror alert level 3 as he presented to the media two men who were arrested for their supposed role in last Monday’s failed bomb attack near the US Embassy in Manila.

Dela Rosa’s statement also came after the military announced it had regained control of the municipality of Butig, Lanao del Sur province, which was occupied by the terrorist Maute Group last Saturday.

The country’s terror alert was heightened after the September 2 bomb attack in a night market in Davao City that left 15 people dead, and hurt 69 others.