| Cops tap vendors, laborers vs terminal bombers |
| Written by Eldie S. Aguirre | |
| Sunday, 27 July 2008 | |
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Recognizing the role of civilians in solving criminalities, the police are now tapping sidewalk vendors and laborers inside the New Satellite Terminal to help in monitoring suspicious personalities and luggage that may contain explosives.
Chief Inspector Hubert Abadia, Davao del Sur assistant police director for operation gathered sidewalk vendors and laborers, the other day, for an orientation seminar in bomb recognition and what to do in case a suspicious baggage would be found.
Abadia said the vendors and laborers will not be involved in police operations but will just serve as “eyes” and “ear” of the authorities.
“They are taught how to handle emergency situations without causing panic among the passengers and people inside the terminal,” Abadia said.
The police is zeroing on a woman as the culprit behind the blast based on the evidence gathered at the crime scene and accounts of witnesses who saw the middle-aged and fair-complexioned woman embarked on the ill-fated bus at Estrada Public Market before the explosion took place inside the bus terminal.
Estrada Public Market is barely 3 kilometers away from the said terminal. It is situated in Zone-1, a poblacion barangay of Digos City.
Chief Inspector Anthony Padua, Digos City police director said additional police personnel are deployed in public places of the city to preempt criminal elements and react at any time in emergency cases.
It is in line with the directive of Mayor Arsenio Latasa to exert all efforts to prevent the occurrence of another bombing incident inside the terminal.
Latasa remained firm on his theory the explosion that ripped a Metro Shuttle Bus on July 24 that killed a computer science graduating student and hurt 34 others was a handiwork of extortionists.
On the other hand, authorities are planning to hold a conference with bus operators in the region to re-affirm their previous agreement not to pickup commuters en route to different terminals.
It became a public knowledge that bus operators are allowing their drivers to pickup passengers outside the terminal thereby giving chances for criminal elements to sneak in explosives inside their buses. (With reports from Roger Panogadia) |