The Philippine National Police (PNP) has implemented various peace and order measures as it hopes to have a violence-free State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., especially between protesters and policemen.
On the part of the police, PNP chief Gen. Benjamin Acoroda, Jr. said he has specifically instructed all the policemen that were deployed to secure Batasan Pambansa and convergence points of protesters to exercise maximum tolerance.
“All Filipinos are watching us today and on our part, we will show what police officers are made of. We are professionals and we exercise in all our dealings the proper security measures for the President, for the rallyists and of course for Filipinos who exercise their rights,” said Acorda in an interview during his troop inspection in Manila on Monday, July 24.
“We talked with our personnel and we emphasized the observance of human rights and maximum tolerance,” he added.
Acorda said they also made sure that pro and anti-protesters would hold their program separately in order to prevent possible misunderstanding that may eventually lead to unnecessary confrontations.
The Quezon City government has designated locations where pro and anti-government protesters would hold their protest actions.
Acorda appealed to the protesters to observe what was stated in the permit and avoid converging in areas where they are not supposed to gather.
“Regardless of affiliation, whether pro or anti and whatsoever, our guidelines include maximum tolerance and we appeal to them to stay on their designated areas,” said Acorda.
The PNP has deployed more than 20,000 policemen who were augmented by personnel from various government agencies that include the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the military, the Bureau of Fire Protection and local government units.