By Rhoda Grace Saron/PNA
DAVAO CITY — Law enforcement agencies and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), led by the Coast Guard District Southeastern Mindanao (CGDSEM), on Wednesday conducted an Inter-agency Maritime Law Enforcement and Search and Rescue Exercise to further strengthen security at this city’s shorelines and ports.
Capt. Roy Echeverria, CGDSEM commander, said the exercise aims to improve coordination and communication among agencies in preparation for upcoming activities here, including the Araw ng Dabaw next month and the mid-term elections in May.
“For the first initial exercise we conducted last August, we have noted some lapses, so we improved them and we were able to do that,” Echeverria said.
“We conducted coordination meeting, communication exercises before we have problems on what frequency we will be on standby in order to be heard by everyone. So this time, it has improved,” he added.
Present during the activity were Councilor Mabel Acosta, chair of the Peace and Security Committee; Benito de Leon, chief of the Public Safety and Security Command Center (PSSCC); Major Gen. Jose Faustino Jr., commander of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division; Commodore Ramil Enriquez, and other military and security officials.
The exercise phases conducted were maritime law enforcement, counter-narcotics phase, search and rescue exercise, and medical phase.
Based on the scene during the exercise, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) 11 (Davao region) received information that one unknown vessel was heading toward the coastal area.
The vessel was supposedly held by heavily-armed international terrorists carrying an undetermined amount of explosives, drug precursors, and smuggled goods with the intent to create chaos in the city.
NICA-11 immediately passed the information to the Maritime Coordinating Council, concerned law enforcement agencies and security forces to deal with an imminent threat.
The PSSCC then declared a lockdown at the coastal areas, including parts of the city. The Eastern Mindanao Command, Philippine Coast Guard, Regional Maritime Unit, and Task Force Davao subsequently conducted a lockdown at the coastal areas and seaports of the city.
All agencies then deployed all their respective air and floating assets.
The exercise ended with all the security forces successfully neutralizing the “armed international terrorist group” and rescuing the “victims”.
