Saturday, August 9, 2014

7,000 cops to secure Makati, Manila rallies (By TJ Burgonio and Cynthia Balana)

TRAFFIC will be rerouted. But to ensure that there will be no untoward incident, a total of 7,000 policemen will be deployed in Manila and Makati to secure the rallyists.
In Makati City, Chief Supt. Edgardo Aglipay, Metro Manila police chief, said that at 6 a.m. today, the Ayala Avenue, from Herrera Street to Manila Peninsula on Makati Avenue will be closed to all vehicular traffic. Paseo de Roxas, from de la Rosa Street in front of Enterprise Center, Banco Filipino, BPI Family will likewise be closed.
At 10 a.m. the entire stretch of Ayala to Rustans Buendia will be closed to all vehicular traffic.
The traffic re-routing plan will give way to participants to the pro-democracy rally. The participants will converge at the Ayala-Paseo de Roxas intersection for the main program which will start at 1 p.m.
Alternative routes will be designated by the Makati Parking Authority, Traffic Management Group-PNP, MAPSA, and the Ayala Security Force.
No parking for all vehicles along Ayala Avenue.
Rally organizers have been advised to police their own ranks.
No operation dikit or Operation pinta will be allowed within the Central Business District or the places where the buses are parked.
Another group policemen will be deployed to the Rizal Park to secure the expected mammoth crowd who will attend the annual anniversary celebration of the Catholic charismatic group El Shaddai in August and Jesus is Lord Church Worldwide on October 25 to 27 in time for the visit of Pope Francis.
Chief Supt. Efren Fernandez, Manila police chief, said that some 1,000 policemen will come from the Western Police District while the rest were augmentation force from the National Capital Regional Police Office.
He added that an additional police force would be deployed in the area in case the crowd swells to 5 million. He also raised the red alert from 6 a.m. yesterday up to 6 a.m. tomorrow, Saturday and again, 6 a.m. Saturday, October 25 up to 6 a.m., October 27, Monday.
''We're putting up our own security precautions because the crowd expected will be a bit big now compared to the other El Shaddai gatherings,'' Fernandez said in another briefing.
Some 3 million people, consisting mostly of El Shaddai followers, are expected to attend the gathering.
President Benigno Aquino III and other government officials are expected to show up at the celebration because El Shaddai leader Mike Velarde is also celebrating his birthday on August 20 while Jesus is Lord Church Worldwide founder, president and spiritual director Bishop Bro. Eddie Villanueva is also celebrating his birthday on October 6. Mr. Aquino is expected to address the rally at 5 p.m.
Fernandez downplayed reports that certain groups would bomb the gathering, saying this was a raw information that needed to be validated.
''At any rate we always adopt the principle of considering the worst-case scenario. We have incorporated that in our plan and we are prepared,'' he said.
Fernandez pointed out that their main concern was traffic. ''Some people will be coming from Manila and going to Makati and vice versa,'' he said.
He however said that he was not implementing any re-routing in Manila, unless necessary.
''Initially, we feel that there's no need for re-routing. Our traffic plan is very flexible. Just in case there's a need for a re-routing, we have contingency plans for these,'' he said.
Fernandez said the Rizal Park can accommodate 2 million people.
In Manila, both North and South bound lanes of Roxas Boulevard will be kept open to traffic despite the projected crowd of 2 to 3 million expected to attend the El Shaddai rally.
The T.M. .Kalaw, P. Burgos, Calle Muralla, Bonifacio Drive, and the inner streets of the Port area were the designated parking zones.

No comments:

Post a Comment