THE Davao City Police Office (DCPO) sought the help of the local government of Davao in the training of new explosive ordnance disposal experts, saying some of the experts are already up for retirement.
DCPO Director Alexander Tagum said in an interview Wednesday, June 19, at Grand Men Seng Hotel that he already made a proposal to Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio for the training of the new EOD personnel, as there is a need to train a new batch of experts to prevent threats of terrorism in the city.
He said in DCPO alone, there are less than eight EOD personnel, and half of them are about to retire.
Considering the cost of an EOD training, the national headquarters could not cover the expenses, thus they asked the help of the local government unit, said Tagum.
He said part of their proposal is to include EOD personnel for the Police Regional Office (PRO)-Davao and Central 11.
"Very expensive ang screening process to undergo the EOD training which will consider the IQ [of the personnel], capability to learn the intricacy of detecting and disposing bomb. That's why nagpaabot ko og request sa atong mayor nga mag-training na pod ta og young police officers and NCOs para mahimong member na pod sa Davao City Police Office EOD," Tagum said.
He said they sometimes receive an average of three calls per day, either prank calls or due to suspicious unattended baggage. They immediately dispatch personnel to check the situation.
"We are closely coordinating with the EOD team of Task Force Davao, Police Regional Office 11, and Central 911 and right now, one of our best solutions to that is the training of new members of EOD," he said.
He said the city has already expressed its desire to help and asked how to procure the equipment for EOD.
"If I'm not mistaken around P2 million; it will include the equipment, the billeting, the airfare of this mobile training team, also basically the explosive component that will be used for the training," Tagum said.