Capt. Francis Gayla of the 10th Infantry “Agila” Division gives lecture on bomb threat awareness. Photo from @theblue_iguana

In light of the recent Roxas night market bombing incident and heightened alert for suspicious objects, the Explosive Ordnance Division (EOD) of the 10th Infantry “Agila” Division of the Philippine Army held a bomb threat awareness lecture last Sept. 7 at the Training Room 8th floor Community Center Ateneo de Davao University.

The army officers, in partnership with the Center of Psychological Extension and Research Services (COPERS), gave a lecture regarding on how to react properly if civilians find a suspicious objects on the streets or how to behave in a crowd when a bomb threat is imminent.

Technical Sergeant Aaron Kinontao along with his team of bomb specialists presented the different forms of explosives and ammunition along with the paraphernalia used to create them.

“Our aim is to have an information drive about what preventive measures to take whenever a bomb threat arises because civilians are in the frontline of those events. Hopefully, this will keep people safe and allow them to easily contact us,” Kinontao said.

The participants of the event were both in awe of the bombs presented and as well fearful even when they were constantly reassuring the audience that it was safe.

“The event was definitely informative and useful, but there is still a lingering fear especially when they brought out and simulated on how bombs were triggered,” Karia Zamudio, a third year Industrial Engineering student, said in an interview.

The said forum lasted for two hours.