By Anna Paternnosto, Vice-President CBRNe Society
On March 25-26 the CBRNe Society and IB Consultancy hosted the NCT PRO Philippines trainings organized in partnership with the Philippine Bomb Data Center at Camp Crame, the Philippines National Police HQs in Quezon City.
The ever changing CBRNe and IED threat environment increasingly requires coordination amongst different national and international actors, both civil and military. Through NCT PRO, the CBRNe Society and IB Consultancy offer realistic Non-Conventional training opportunities for CBRNe, C-IED and EOD teams. More specifically, NCT PRO consists in scenario driven training sessions during which two different teams are matched together to solve a given scenario with the use of the newest technologies available on the market and under the guidance of professional trainers
After a previous successful NCT PRO edition at NCT Europe 2018 in The Netherlands, the CBRNe Society and IB Consultancy launched the first training event in the Asian region with a two-days event at Camp Crame that included a mix of real scenario trainings led by George McKerrow from MAC7, equipment training by Polimaster, as well as a workshop session on CBRNe Threats by Mr. Ilja M. Bonsen, Managing Director of IB Consultancy.
NCT PRO Philippines welcomed teams from the following organizations for a total of over 60 participants:
- Philippine Army EOD Battalion
- Philippine Police EOD/K9 Group
- Philippine Bureau of Fire Protection
- Philippine Bomb Data Center
- Philippine National Police Health Service and Crime Laboratory
- NAVSOG (Naval Special Operations Group) and MARSOG (Marine Special Operations Group)
- Philippine Armed Forces Special Operations Wing
- Philippines Armed Forces Munition Center
- Philippines Coast Guard
- Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (MMDA DRRMC)
NCT PRO Philippines started off with an opening ceremony led by the Chief of the Philippines Bomb Data Center (PDBC) PSSPT Marlon S Sapla followed by the keynote speaker of the day, FCSUPT Jose S Embang Jr, Deputy Chief of Operation of the Philippines Bureau of Fire Protection. Both representatives underlined the importance of training opportunities for their country and stressed the value of enhanced inter-agency cooperation against CBRNe threats in the Philippines and in the ASEAN region.
After the official opening ceremony, participating first responder teams were split into different groups. While one group had the opportunity of gaining extensive knowledge about the latest technologies in the field of radiological detection, the second group of teams moved to the outdoor training location of Camp Crame for the practical CBRNe scenarios.
The radiological detection equipment training was given by the team of American and Belarussian experts from Polimaster, world leading manufacturer in this field. The first responder teams were given the opportunity to use and learn about the functionalities of portable radiation detection and radionuclide identifiers before using them in the scenarios.
The scenario trainings were led by George J McKerrow, Director of Training for MAC 7 and Certified Counter Terrorism Practitioner with over 30 years of experience in Counter Terrorism and C-IED. Over the duration of the two days, Filipino CBRNe, C-IED and EOD first responders were challenged with a variety of scenarios including a suspicious dirty bomb developed by a communist terrorist group in Mindanao and a chemical IED manufactured by Islamist Terrorists to be used against the Philippines Security Forces. Practiced skills ranged from collection of forensic evidence, detection and identification to decontamination.
In addition to the equipment and scenario trainings, NCT PRO Philippines featured a workshop on CBRN threats during which Mr. Ilja M. Bonsen, Managing Director of IB Consultancy gave an in-depth briefing on the main Chemical and Biological agents and their properties. The comprehensive approach of the event provided participants with practical, technical as well as theoretical knowledge on emerging CBRNe and IED threats.
After two intensive days of trainings, the NCT PRO Philippines participating teams gathered in the briefing room of Camp Crame training section for the closing ceremony of the event led by the Chief of the PDBC. The guest of honor, Atty. Florentino T Manalastas Jr, Officer in Charge, Anti-Terrorism Council Project Management Center, personally congratulated all the participating teams and stressed the importance of training experiences like NCT PRO Philippines in strengthening the preparedness and response capabilities of Filipino first responders. To conclude the ceremony, the participants were awarded with a certificate of participation for their outstanding performance.
The CBRNe Society and IB Consultancy would like to express their gratitude and appreciation to the Philippine Bomb Data Center for hosting the trainings and facilitating the event, to all the participating teams for showing a great eagerness to learn and be challenged, to Polimaster and MAC 7 for providing the equipment and scenario trainings and to FCSUPT Jose S Embang Jr. and Atty. Florentino T Manalastas Jr. for supporting NCT PRO Philippines.O
