CAGAYAN de Oro City Councilor Roger Abaday on Monday, December 2, said the police force should undergo a refresher training on the basic police procedure and rules of engagement during emergency situations, following the grenade explosion that killed a policeman and injured 16 others in Initao, Misamis Oriental.
Abaday said the death of Police Senior Master Sergeant Jason Magno served as a wake-up call even as he said that casualties during the blast could have been avoided had the situation been handled properly.
“The first responders, which is the police officers, should have first cleared the area and then negotiate the suspect but what happened was they agitated that person, dapat unta gi-isolate to siya dili kay gi-bato sa mga tao,” Abaday said, referring to Ibrahim Basher who ran amok with a knife and grenade inside the college.
Abaday said there was mishandling of the police’s rules of engagement.
“We commend the heroic act of the police officer but that should not have resulted to death,” she added.
Abaday, a licensed criminologist, said the basic police procedure was not followed.
As a result of the blast, Abaday called on public and private schools to strengthen their security measures and employ a safety officer.
“This should awaken the PNP to retrain on the area of their rules of engagement, they should rehearse especially in dealing with these incident to ensure nga dili mausab,” he added.
Lieutenant Colonel Mardy Hortillosa, spokesperson of Police Regional Office-Northern Mindanao, earlier admitted that they observed police lapses during the incident, noting that responding police officers at the scene failed to control the crowd inside the campus.
Hortillosa also said these observations will be reviewed to determine if they need to implement changes in the police operational procedure.