DAVAO CITY”•Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa graded the Davao City Police Office with a 9.5 on its preparedness level after the “Southern Storm” simulation exercise at the Abreeza mall here on Wednesday morning.
Dela Rosa said he is satisfied with the performance of the DCPO during the simulation exercise, but there is still room for improvement.
“They might relax if I give them a perfect grade, so I am giving them a 9.5. There is still room for improvements and they should never relax,” the chief of the Philippine National Police said.
During the simulation exercise, personnel from DCPO, Bureau of Fire Protection, Task Force Davao, Central 911, Public Safety and Security Command Center, and other agencies showed their capacity in terms of terroristic attacks in the city.
The different attacks portrayed was a bombing incident, hostage taking, high jacking and New People’s Army attack in a police station here.
Different scenarios were dramatized by the members of the security agencies and even real actress like JC Parker who portrayed as Mayor Sara Duterte.
DCPO Director Senior Supt. Alexander Tagum said that even though the police are lacking with some equipment, they are still ready to respond in any eventualities that might appear in the city.
“The equipment that we lack is not a reason for us not to perform our 100 percent in doing our job, we have to work with what we have and not make an excuse out of it,” Tagum said.
Police Director General for Operation General Camilo Cascolan said the aim of the simulation exercise is to ensure that the coordination procedure of the different security agencies are in place in times of any form of eventualities that the city will encounter.
“We did this to put into order the coordination process of the security agencies. This is very important since everything will rely on the coordination,” Cascolan said.
Dela Rosa also stressed that the Southern Storm exercise is also made to further enhance the professionalism of the security agencies and to let the public know what they should do in times of such incidents.
“The Southern Storm presented an opportunity for comprehensive training for decision makers and action officers of concerned agencies to the dedicated soldiers and frontline police officers working towards the safety and security of Davao City,” he said.
The next Southern Storm simulation exercise will be held in National Capital Region in March.