Batons, shields for SONA cops
Instead of firearmas, the 6,000 police officers who will be deployed to secure the third State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Duterte on July 23 will only use batons and shields, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) announced yesterday.
NCRPO Director Guillermo Eleazar said the Security Task Force SONA is comprised of 13 security subtask groups and seven support sub-task groups that were created to ensure the security of the event.
However, in adherence to President Duterte and Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Oscar Albayalde’s orders, Eleazar said the security task force will not be allowed to use rifles contrary to what was done in the past years.
“The directive of the President and the chief PNP is to exercise maximum tolerance and refrain from bringing guns. Instead, a baton would be used just for emergency and the shield as an umbrella in case it rains,” Eleazar stated.
“The additional security forces will be armed but they will be positioned far from where the protesters are and they will not engage the rallyists,” he added.
Eleazar said they will also not use barbed wires and container vans to limit the protesters from advancing since it is not “necessary” and “pleasing to the eyes.”
“On Saturday, we will be holding a dialogue with both anti- and pro-Duterte rallyists so that we can inform them of the measures that will be established and avoid any untoward incidents,” he said.
Eleazar said protesters will either be allowed to hold their rally along Commonwealth Avenue just like the traditional way or be allowed until 100 meters away from the Batasang Pambansa just like what was done last year.
“So that’s Plan A and Plan B. Depending on the result of the dialogue with protest groups, we will finalize the security measures in the coming days,” he said. ‘No foreigners’
Meanwhile, foreigners who will be caught joining the SONA protest will also face possible arrest and deportation, according to Eleazar.
“We will be coordinating with the Bureau of Immigration on this aspect so that they can help us if there are, in case, violations committed by foreigners [who will attend protests],” Eleazar said.
“We are reminding not only our ‘kababayans’ but also foreigners visiting our country, we welcome you here but definitely you should not join protest actions which could be against the law, if there are any, or Immigration orders,” he added.