BACOLOD City – Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran questioned the veracity of the report issued by the PNP Maritime Group regarding the seven alleged “car bombs” reportedly bound for Metro Manila.
In a press conference on June 7, 2017 at the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC), Familiaran said he doubts the report which was issued by a non-commissioned officer of the PNP. Familiaran pointed out that such a report should have been released by a ranking commissioned officer of the PNP, not a Senior Police Officer 4 (SPO4). “I think the report is false, because I don’t think an SPO4 is authorized to make such a memorandum addressed to different operation managers and shipping lines,” Familiaran stressed. He lamented that the report is creating panic in the public. “People should not take chances, if they see any suspicious neighbors then they should contact their local police, but this type of irresponsible posts [in social media] is not tolerable,” he added. Meanwhile, Police Regional Office (PRO-18) spokesperson, Senior Insp. Armilyn Vargas, said a police officer of any rank could issue such a memorandum but only if he or she was appointed as “officer-in-charge” when a ranking officer is unavailable. Vargas explained, at the time of the issuance of the memo, the PNP Maritime Unit office in Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte may have been short in personnel. “Considering some stations have a shortage of personnel, the next available ranking officer is eligible to issue any actionable items that need to be determined,” Vargas explained. Vargas also validated the report saying the information was already disseminated to intelligence operatives, their counterparts in the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Highway Patrol Group (HPG). She said that the information was released in social media to deter the impending terror threat and raise awareness of the citizens, adding they did not mean to create panic. Earlier, Lieutenant Jimmy Oliver Vingno, PCG-Bacolod commander, said he received the intelligence claiming that seven car bombs are being transported from Mindanao to Metro Manila. Vingno explained the suspected vehicles are traveling through the Visayas islands using roll-on/roll-off vessels. Dolly Yasa
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
September 2020
Categories
All
|