By Gabriela Baron
The Philippine National Police (PNP) deployed 192,000 personnel and put up 5,784 police assistance desks (PADs) in cemeteries and memorial parks around the country to ensure “peaceful” observance of Undas.
“Police personnel manning these PADs are under strict instructions to dutifully perform their assigned tasks with the ideal balance of firm decisiveness and reasonable flexibility within the bounds of law,” PNP Chief PGen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said.
Azurin also reminded the public against the possession of firearms, deadly weapons, illegal drugs, intoxicating beverages, flammable and hazardous substances, gambling paraphernalia, and audio-visual devices that emit loud sounds inside cemeteries.
“Traveling motorists in distress who may need police assistance for whatever emergency, may call the national emergency hotline 117 or to alert Police Assistance Centers along national highways and major thoroughfares,” Azurin said.
“The PNP will stay focused to ensure order and security on this national holiday even as we remain preoccupied with post–disaster response operations in the aftermath of Severe Tropical Storm ‘Paeng’ that wreaked havoc in many parts of the country over the weekend,” he added.
