The government will hold a send-off ceremony on Sunday, November 5, 2017 at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila for a total of 59,276 security forces who will be mobilized for the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit this November.
Catalino S. Cuy, Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Chairman of the Committee on Security, Peace and Order, Emergency Preparedness and Response (CSPOEPR), says that the troops will be deployed to key strategic areas in Metro Manila and Pampanga to ensure the safety and security of the ASEAN delegates.
“All eyes will be on the Philippines as we host this year’s ASEAN Summit. This is an opportunity for us to shine and to show the world that we are not only a gracious host but we can also effectively handle an international event of this magnitude,” Cuy says.
“We are therefore mobilizing thousands of troops and resources and even get augmentations from nearby regions just to make sure that there will be no untoward incident during the summit,” he adds.
The DILG OIC says the largest contingent will come from the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) who will be assigned to secure the airports, routes, billets, venues, and tours.
Relative to this event, Cuy advises motorists and the general public of the traffic re-routing scheme and closure of roads that will be implemented around the vicinity of Quirino Grandstand on the said date.
Independence Road from Katigbak Drive to South Drive will be closed to traffic as early as 6am and will only be re-opened once the send-off ceremony is finished.
Likewise, the right and left portions of Quirino Grandstand including Bonifacio Drive, P. Burgos, and T. M. Kalaw will be re-routed while the ceremony is ongoing.
“We appeal to the general public to refrain from passing through these routes on November 5 and to look for alternative routes so that their planned activities will not be delayed or disrupted by the send-off rites,” Cuy says. | DILG-PR
