PPA places all ports nationwide under red alert status after Marawi bomb attack
Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) General Manager Jay Daniel Santiago placed on Monday, Dec, 4, all ports across the country under red alert status as part of the security measures following a bomb attack in Marawi City that left four people dead and around 50 others injured.
“Since this morning, we issued a red alert in relation to what happened in Marawi. We’re always on heightened alert but with what happened, we are on red alert,” said Santiago.
“This means intensive ang security, more presence of K9, generally speaking all ports of PPA are on red alert,” he added.
On Sunday morning, a bomb ripped through a gymnasium of the Marawi campus of the Mindanao State University where a mass was being celebrated.
As a result, four people died due to serious injuries while several others were injured.
Police Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR), said all of those injured were already discharged from the hospital except for 10 victims, five of them are in critical condition.
He said security measures were tightened following the blast, including placing the entire police force in the region under full alert status.
“Considering what happened in Marawi yesterday (Sunday, Dec. 3), we are on full alert status. It means that we put more policemen on the ground, we intensified our checkpoints and police visibility increased,” said Nobleza.
Santiago’s order for red alert status in all ports came as the PPA expects the influx of passengers for the Christmas holiday.