Around 20,000 police personnel will be deployed across Metro Manila to maintain peace and order during President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address at the Batasang Pambansa complex in Quezon City on July 27.
The National Capital Region Police Office said the initial deployment will include NCRPO personnel and augmentation forces from nearby police regional offices.
“Twenty thousand, that’s the initial… This includes personnel we are going to borrow from other regions,” NCRPO spokesperson Maj. Hazel Asilo said.
Asilo said the NCRPO is still finalizing its security measures for the SONA and identifying areas where protest groups may hold demonstrations.
“We’re going to deploy CDM (Civil Disturbance Management) personnel to these areas in case there will be rallies,” Asilo said.
“These 20,000 personnel include those who will be performing anti-criminality and other duties,” she added.
Asilo clarified that police personnel will not be concentrated only around the Batasang Pambansa complex.
“This is for entire Metro Manila. This will include policemen who will be deployed in the barangays, doing anti-criminal and other operations,” she said.
The NCRPO has yet to monitor groups planning to apply for permits to hold rallies during the President’s fifth SONA.
“We are still checking if there will be groups that will secure rally permits. As of now, we have not monitored any,” Asilo said.
Asked whether authorities had detected any security threat related to the event, she said: “We have yet to monitor threats.”
Around 20,000 Philippine National Police personnel and approximately 3,000 members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other government agencies secured last year’s SONA, which authorities described as “generally peaceful.”