SECURITY will be heightened along with police visibility to ensure peaceful demonstrations and mass actions by various workers in the labor sector Monday, May 1.
Dubbed as “Oplan Manggagawa,” the Police Regional Office (PRO)-Northern Mindanao ordered all police units to be on alert as lawless groups may take advantage and plot terror acts in the region.
Authorities raised the possibilities that terrorists, extremists and other groups may conduct bombings, burn equipment and structures, attacks and other destabilization actions.
“Sa mga rally diha atong focus (Our focus is on the rally) and target hardening security measures atong ipatuman kay basin naay mosabotahe (are enforced for possible sabotage),” PRO-Northern Mindanao spokesman Lemuel Gonda said.
Gonda said PRO-Northern Mindanao has yet to receive threats on sabotaging rallies and demonstrations in Labor Day celebration but the police wants to ensure that security measures are in place in case of lawless attacks.
He added that the police will be visible around the rally points to prevent the rallyists from obstructing the traffic flow.
“Naa ang mga police sa palibot kung asa ang rally aron pagsiguro nga didto lang sila sa mga lugar nga pwede mag-rally aron dili mabalda ang dagan sa trapiko (The police will be around places where there will be rally to make sure the protesters will stay only on places where rallies should be conducted to avoid traffic disturbance),” Gonda said.
Under the Oplan Manggagawa, all provincial and city police directors will act as ground commander in their respective jurisdiction.
Quick Reaction Teams, deployment of intelligence operatives, Special Weapons and Tactics, public safety companies, traffic and patrol personnel will be on standby to react and respond to any eventualities.
Gonda said part of the measures taken by the police is the paneling of the Explosive Ordinance Division and K9 bomb squad around the city.
All of the rescue and ambulance units of PRO-Northern Mindanao will also be ready along with the personnel from the Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB-10) for possible augmentation purposes.
