Iligan to replicate Oro fiesta security

By NORA SORIÑO
GSD-Iligan bureau chief
and NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent .

ILIGAN City–Authorities stepped up security measures here ahead of the city’s September festivities even as they plan to jam mobile phone signals during certain periods during the fiesta period and tourism month activities owing to the success of security operations during the Cagayan de Oro revelries this week.

The city will be celebrating the feast of St. Michael the Archangel on Sept. 29.

Police heightened its security operations due to fears of a bomb attack similar to what was staged in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, on Tuesday night.

The bombing in Isulan resulted in at least three deaths as of yesterday’s count and over 30 injuries.

Vice Mayor Jemar Vera Cruz, who is acting mayor, met with members of the local peace and order council where they discussed the success of security operations during the just-concluded Cagayan de Oro fiesta activities. Officials in Iligan plan to jam mobile phone signals during the September fiesta and tourism month activities the way it was done in neighboring Cagayan de Oro in order to prevent the gadgets from being used to detonate explosive devices.

If plans don’t miscarry, the signals would be jammed during the “Pagpakanaug” on Sept. 20, the street dancing on Sept. 27, the crowning of Miss Iligan, and Iligan’s version of the “Sinulog,” among others.

Iligan police director Senior Supt. Manuel Alvarez cited the security operations in neighboring Cagayan de Oro during its fiesta early this week, adding that authorities here were planning on implementing a similar security plan to prevent a bomb attack similar to what was carried out in Isulan.

The mobile signal interruptions may have prevented an Isulan-like bombing in Cagayan de Oro during its fiestaelated activities since Saturday, according to retired general Romeo Calizo, a councilor in Cagayan de Oro.

Calizo, chairman of the Cagayan de Oro city council’s police and public safety committee, said the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) was on the right track when it ordered telecommunications companies to suspend mobile phone services in the city during certain hours from Saturday to Tuesday.

He noted that the bomb attack in Isulan took place during a town fiestaelated activity on the same day Cagayan de Oro celebrated the feast of St. Augustine.

He said cellular phones have been used, time and again, to detonate bombs.

Calizo brushed aside complaints by mobile phone users, saying the signal interruptions were a small sacrifice in the name of public safety.

“Niadto bitaw sa una, nahimo man nato ang atong mga bulohaton  nga walay cellphone. Mas maayo mang walay signal sa cellphone basta secure ta kay sa naay signal sa cellphone nga  mabutang ta sa kakuyaw,” he said.

Iligan officials were also looking into the possibility of setting stricter rules on the use of motorcycles during the fiesta events here, and. in making use of surveillance cameras installed in in strategic areas of ther city.

SP03 Jovane Cabusas, spokesperson of the the Iligan police, said authorities here have been vigilant since the “Marawi siege” last year, noting that Iligan and Marawi are only some 37 kilometers away.

Just like in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan is under “Alert Level 3,” Cabusas said.