Bohol acquires K9 to sniff

out drugs, bombs, pork

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Jan 27 (PIA)—In one act, Bohol Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado has enhanced the capability and efficiency of the Provincial Government’s Canine (K9) Unit in detecting illegal drugs, firearms, explosives and ordinance as well as smuggled pork, as well as boosted internal security with the provision of security dogs.

The governor recently ordered the equipping of the K9 Unit, from its 5 to 15 attack dogs which are also trained to ferret out illegal substances and smuggled goods.

With the most recent procurement and completion of the training of 10 more German Shepherd attack dogs as narcotics detecting (NDD), explosives detecting (EDD), or the more basic contraband detecting animals, Bohol edges closer to keeping Bohol African Swine Fever (ASF) free.

Goldrich Junnie Cabagnot, head of the K9 unit under the office of the Governor said the recent procurement of the dogs is a huge help as their unit is fully stretched with accomplishing their tasks and equipped only with 5 trained dogs.

Speaking at the Kapihan sa PIA, Cabagnot who has had 14 years of training dogs under his belt, said that their capacity to interdict drugs, maintain internal security from terror attacks and keep Bohol safe from smuggled contrabands has been significantly enhanced with the recent development.

Now set to augment the capacities of the Philippine National Police, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Armed Forces of the Philippines and some private dog owners whose trained dogs perform sniffing of baggage, cargo and rolling vehicles for illegal drugs, firearms, explosives and ordnance or smuggled items as mandated by executive Order No 31, series of 2023, the new dogs and their handlers can also be used to perform when concerned teams are held up with tasks.

It may be recalled that faced with the reports that illegal drugs entering Bohol through the lax security measures at the port, the governor then issued EO 31, mandating that all motor vehicles entering Bohol through the seaports, to undergo inspection by the K9 unit.

Back then, Capitol only had 5 dogs at the unit’s disposal after it was established through Executive order No 4, series of 2023.

Tasked mainly to pursue the continuing fight against illegal drugs, terrorism and other criminal activities as well as disaster response to promote the general welfare and protect public health and safety, the unit has to perform to the best of its ability, and cover Bohol’s major sea ports: Tagbilaran City, Loon, Tubigon, Getafe, Talibon, Ubay and Jagna.

Asked how effective the k9 is, Cabagnot humbly refused to cite their drug or firearms interdiction batting percentage, adding that he would rather appreciate it as accomplishment if they could not positively identify a courier or an item getting smuggled to Bohol.

Now, the team in fact is directed to get to 8 ports, with their dogs only effective for 30 minutes of paneling before these need to be rested, shared Cabagnot.

Recently too, the task of making sure that smuggled contaminated pork are interdicted before these can wreak havoc in Bohol’s multi-billion hog industry, is complicating their tasks.

When with the 5 dogs then, K9 unit were forced to prioritize the paneling of passengers and their carry-on baggage, and only going to cargoes in their spare times.

Now with the additional dogs, changes have to be implemented in the flow to minimize delay and further inconvenience, especially with rolling cargo now becoming an object of the inspection, which could snag port traffic.

To this, Cabagnot said “the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian has adopted a system, we will just enhance and with 4,666 positive pork finds with them, he said he is fairly certain that the system is working.

Just a little tweak and we are good to go with the rolling cargo inspection, Cabagnot said, coming hot to the Kapihan from a Philippine Ports Authority, PNP and OPV coordination meeting.

Now, as Boholanos would rather criticize the government for the proliferation of illegal drugs and ASF without looking at the stretching effort Bohol makes to secure the island, at least there is a team: a dog and a handler who would rather stay awake, to keep Boholanos sleeping soundly. (PIABohol)

ATTACK DOGS. While they may be trained dogs with a desired action when they positively sniff a smuggled item, handlers need to remind people that these are also attack dogs and when they perceive something that could hurt them, they may attack, so the K9 adopts no petting policy even with these cuddly dogs. (PIABohol)

ENHANCED SECURITY AND SAFETY. PLGU Bohol K9 unit head Goldrich Cabagnot said that the acquisition of new dogs enhances Bohols safety and security even as he hinted that with the sniffing dogs, smugglers would have to find other entry points and the coastal areas which are accessible by pumpboats or paddleboates around Bohol can not be taken for granted. (PIABohol)