WHILE Dabawenyos understood the essence of the simulation exercises (simex) conducted in Davao City, some said that the activity should’ve been properly disseminated to avoid causing panic.
The city government, led by the Public Safety and Security Office (PSSO) staged another simex on February 20, 2023 — the first simex for this year. The twin simex was conducted along Roxas Avenue, and Nova Plaza Food Park in Lanang.
The simex scenario at the Roxas Night Market involved an `unattended motorcycle’ while in Lanang was an `explosion’ incident.
The simulation exercise is anchored on the Culture of Security campaign of Davao City, as well as the Executive Order 62 s. 2021 “An Order Adopting the Integrated Response on Terrorism Plan (Usahay II) of Task Force Davao and Activating the Joint Security Forces Cluster in the Event of Terror Attacks.”
The city has been staging it since 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite the positive purpose of the security exercise, this gained mixed reactions from Dabawenyos.
Roy Fontanares, 47, tricycle driver, told SunStar Davao in an interview that the date and venue of the said activity should’ve been announced so that the public will be able to prepare for it.
“Uyon ko ani para sa terrorista og sa siguridad sa davao, pero dapat ipahibalo jud dapat na nila kay makuyawan man pud ta ana (I don’t have a problem with this simex but I think they should inform the public well so that we will not be shocked),” Fontanares said.
Teacher Kit Baldonado, 46, also said that instead of helping, the simex might even cause more problems than serving its purpose.
“If the public is really not informed about this it will create chaos and at the same time fear because we don't know what might happen,” Baldonado said.
Since it is staged in a public area, he said this might even result in a stampede.
He added that the security cluster should at least give the public an idea on what is the scenario before the execution of the simex so that they will be able to identify and learn how to react when the situation might happen in real life.
“Definitely, they should give the public somehow of a hint or idea so that we will know how to react and be knowledgeable of the activity because that is the main goal - - for us, the public together with police, will know what to do if there is a terrorist attack,” Baldonado said.
Meanwhile, some Dabawenyos interviewed by SunStar agreed that the simex should be unannounced since terrorists and other lawless elements may attack anytime and anywhere.
Food vendor Remelyn Tuazon, 42, said that the event should be taken seriously.
“Kasagaran man gud terrorista magdala-dala og bomba di man gud na magpahibalo (Most of the terrorists work silently),” she said .
“Maayo siguro himuon sa mga tao mag palayo nalang kung naay mga pulis, naa silay gi trabaho para malikay sa disgrasya, unya dili ta mag panic para dili ta ma kulban aron maka trabaho ang mga pulis og maayo (I suggest that people should give the space to the authorities if there are incidents for safety purposes and we should not panic so that we will not obstruct the scene),” she added.
Victoria Jimeno, a 22-year-old student, also agreed that it should be unannounced.
Jimeno said that while it will cause some inconvenience to the public, the public would still benefit from it as it is for maintaining the city’s law and order.
SunStar Davao has reached out to PSSO and Task Force Davao with regard to the matter, but they have yet to release a statement.
The city, earlier, already posted on their social media accounts of the planned simex. Although the city did not announce the date, time, and venue of the exercise, which they did in the previous simex. KSD with Joseph James L. Callejo, UIC intern