Mayors to undergo crisis training
City and municipal mayors in Western Visayas will undergo a training in crisis management to prepare them in responding accordingly to a situation similar to the Manila hostage incident last August 23.
The training is part of the Regional Peace and Order Council 6 plan to organize crisis management committees (CMCs) in the city and municipal level.
Chief Supt. Samuel Pagdilao Jr., police regional director, recommended the seminar-workshop on crisis management to arm local chief executives with the knowledge necessary in taking decisive action during emergency and crisis situations.
Pagdilao said that getting the mayors “in the loop” during a crisis situation is very important to ensure the success of the CMC.
He also urged the local government executives to invest in the peace and order effort of the Philippine National Police by providing assistance for the training and procurement of equipment for Special Weapons and Tactics units.
The proposed seminar-workshop will guide the mayors in the formulation of a localized crisis management procedures and in the integration and orchestration of government, police and public efforts towards prevention and control of crisis situation, Pagdilao said.
He added that the training will also help the mayors in the mobilization of government resources to assist in the resolution of the crisis and to enable the local executives to set the mode of interoperability between concerned agencies.
At present, Pagdilao said there is no policy prescribing the specific powers and limitations of the CMC and therefore it is timely that the RPOC 6 should form CMCs down to the municipal level and formulate clear guidelines delineating its powers and limitations.
“Even if we have all the trainings and the equipment to deal with a hostage situation, but the mayor who is the chairman of the CMC does not know what to do at the height of the crisis, then the possibility of bungling the operation is unavoidable,” he added.
Pagdilao expressed optimism that by arming the mayors of the knowledge about their roles and their limitations in the conduct of crisis management, the government can avoid blunders similar to the bungled rescue operations by the police in the Manila hostage crisis.*
