AT least 15, 000 members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces will be deployed during President Rodrigo Duterte’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, July 26, Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, PNP chief, said on Friday.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) situation was among the considerations in finalizing the security measures, said Eleazar in a statement.
He said the 15,000 security would be coming from the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO), non-PNP personnel from Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), among others.
He said that no security threat to the President’s final SONA has been monitored, so far, but that they were ready to respond for any eventuality.
The NCRPO has said it will use body-worn cameras (BWCs) to help monitor the movements of suspicious persons who may be planning to disrupt the SONA.
Eleazar asked for the public’s cooperation, urging groups planning to stage mass actions to conduct their activities online.