THE government of Canada donated Friday to Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) a Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Event Response Equipment in case of warfare.

The P10 million worth of CBRN equipment will be distributed to local Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Offices in Cebu, Davao, and Manila where the Canada government has been conducting first responder training courses, said SPO1 Jennette Jusayan, chief of the BFP Public Information Office.

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Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines Robert Desjardins and DILG Undersecretary for Public Safety Marius Corpus signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the DILG Central Office Friday.

Under the MOU, the DILG and BFP are required to oversee the care, storage, and security of the equipment with guidance from the Canadian government through its International First Responder Training Program Courses.

Bureau of Fire Protection officers model the suit with Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines Robert Desjardins. Equipment will be distributed to Cebu, Davao, and Manila. (Sunnex/Angela Casauay)

When asked about sustainability of training, Desjardins said: "All good things must come to an end and after four years of direct training, it is time to eventually move on and move out."

"We have trained a dozen trainers. This is an example of knowledge transmitted and multiplied exponentially," he added.

Corpus thanked the Canadian government and said he is "looking forward to the next batch."

This is the second time that the Canadian government has donated such kinds of equipments, according to Jusayan.

From what was presented, Canada will provide and oversee all the equipment and training, with the Philippines at the receiving end.

Jusayan said there is none at stake for the Philippines, nothing that will be given in return to Canada.

"We are friends of Canada and they acknowledge that we have skilled people from the Bureau of Fire, the PNP (Philippine National Police) and the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines). These agencies can complement one another bring about better opportunities if needed. Better to use more people with many talents to mitigate calamity," Jusayan said.

Jusayan said the contribution of CBRN response equipment came in light of the earlier 9-11 attacks or the bombing of the World Trade Center.

"Since we are a friend of the US (United States), we are one of the targets," she said. "But we are not yet considered as a potential threat to cause any international upheaval."

No impending biological warfare is threatening the country, according to Jusayan, but the Glorietta blast is suspected to have been a terrorist attack.

"Investigations focus on explosives. The nearest one we have is the Glorietta blast which is a suspected terrorist attack but it hasn't been clarified if it's true," Jusayan said.

Training started in the provinces especially in Cebu because there are hidden vital installations related to terrorism there, added Jusayan.

"It's an urban area and the place was nice to conduct training. They have a very large space, not so crowded, conducive to people," Jusayan said on the reason why the Canadian trainers chose Cebu.

The equipment can also be used for rescue and retrieval operations and investigations in case oil depots are targeted by terrorists. (Angela Casauay/Sunnex)