The Philippine National Police (PNP) lauded all its personnel for the perfect execution of the security measures during the first State of the Nation Address (SONA)m of President Bongbong Marcos, Jr.
Police Lt. Gen. Vicente Danao, Jr., PNP officer-in-charge, attributed the peaceful and orderly SONA to the cooperation of various government agencies and the protesters as well.
“We can say that it is one of the most peaceful SONA ever. We attribute the peaceful and orderly conduct of SONA to the cooperation, collaboration, coordination, and commitment of all agencies involved in the planning and implementation of the security plans,” said Danao.
Around 5,000 rallyists held protest actions while more or less 6K pro- government groups also held programs and presentations to support the plans of the present administration.
Both parties who applied to conduct mass gatherings and/or protest rallies heed with the rules and regulations pre-set by the local government of Quezon City and both were responsible enough to polish their ranks, according to Metro Manila police chief Maj. Gen. Felipe Natividad.
“Apart from the safety and security operations conducted, the deployed peace officers also implemented covid 19 related policies and minimum health and safety protocols to curb the once again rising cases of the deadly virus in the community,” said Natividad.
For his part, Police Maj. Gen. Valeriano De Leon described the implementation of the security measures as perfectly executed.
"We consider that this was a perfect execution. The protesters respected our troops on the ground as well as our personnel, and our force multipliers came well prepared for this activity," said De Leon.
De Leon attributed the peaceful and orderly conduct of SONA to early security preparations by the PNP in collaboration with other agencies such as the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine Coast Guard, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, and the Quezon City local government unit.
On Friday, De Leon personally inspected the security preparations and issued instructions to ensure that the progressive and pro-Marcos groups did not engage in unnecessary confrontations. De Leon also inspected on Monday to personally assess the situation on the ground.
He did, however, say that the calm and orderly conduct of the SONA on Monday was the result of past best practices, especially in handling major events.
"We have considered best practices in the past and, as a result, the security package that we prepare and implement continuously improves," said De Leon.