8,500 cops securing People Power anniversary
THE PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) said on Monday that it will deploy 8,500 cops to sites of activities celebrating the EDSA People Power anniversary, the popular uprising that toppled a dictatorial regime 38 years ago this week.
Police chief Benjamin Acorda Jr. said they were looking at possible rallies in the central Philippine province of Cebu and in Metro Manila on Feb. 25, the anniversary of former strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos’ flight from Malacañang in February 1986 to go into exile in Hawaii with his family.
“In Cebu, we intend to deploy more or less 2,500 police personnel and in Metro Manila we also prepared for it, more or less 6,000,” he told reporters.
“And of course, these numbers will adjust depending on how the intelligence reports will come in,” he added.
Mr. Acorda said they had not monitored any imminent security threats for the occasion. “We will be exercising maximum tolerance,” he said, “but I hope nobody would sow chaos.”
The office President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., son and namesake of the late former leader of the Martial Law regime, did not include Feb. 25 in the list of holidays for 2024.
The office earlier said there is “minimal socio-economic impact” in declaring Feb. 25, which falls on a Sunday, a special non-working holiday “since it coincides with the rest day for most workers and laborers.” — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza