MANILA — Up to 10,000 police personnel would be deployed to ensure security during demonstrations in line with the observance of Labor Day on Tuesday, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Oscar Albayade said Monday.
“Una, hindi naman natin minamaliit yung kakayahan ng KMU (Kilusang Mayo Uno) for them to muster ng sinasabi nilang 15,000 but in the recent years for the past few years nakita naman natin sa term of the President (Rodrigo Duterte), nakikita naman natin na hindi naman ganun kadami yung mga sumasali sa mga protest rallies, (First, we are not belittling the KMU’s capability to muster their claim of 15,000 but in the recent years, for the past few years during the term of the President, we see that the figures of the participants in their protest have lessened),” Albayalde said.
During his stint as National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) head last year, Albayalde said participants in the demonstrations reached 3,000 to 5,000.
“So dito (here), although we do not expect that they will reach 15,000 but we cannot take that for granted. So (we) prepared I think with 10,000 people from NCRPO ang police personnel natin na naka-ready for CDM (Civil Disturbance Management) operations,” Albayade said.
As a standard procedure, the police will exercise maximum tolerance for peaceful activities.
Protesters will also be allowed to conduct their rally or assembly with or without permit as earlier announced by the President.
Albayalde added that law enforcers, however, will act appropriately in case of violence during the demonstrations.
“Hindi naman natin sila pwedeng pabayaan na kung sila ay mananakit ng tao or naninira ng property, then we have to make arrests also (We cannot allow them to cause injuries or destroy property),” he added.
This year’s Labor Day falls a day ahead of the week-long Asian Development Bank international forum from May 3 to 6 which is expected to be participated in by 3,000 delegates from around the world. (PNA)
