2,000 cops to secure People Power celebrations

MANILA, Philippines —Some 2,000 policemen will be fanned out to provide security for the 26th anniversary of People Power Revolution,  the Philippine National Police said Friday.

PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. said that aside from the 2,000 police officers who will man checkpoints and patrol the area where commemoration rites will be held, several more will be participating in the “Salubungan”, a re-enactment of the 1986 bloodless uprising that toppled the 21-year dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.

Director Alan Purisima, head of the National Capital Region Police Office, said that the policemen they will be deploying were enough and that they would not be raising their alert level for the event.

The event, with the theme “Anong Taya Mo Para sa Pilipinas Natin?” will kick off with a flag raising ceremony at the Edsa People Power Monument in the morning, ending at the same place with the “Salubungan” sometime in the afternoon.

The turnover of 21,000 homes to members of the military in Trece Martires in Cavite City and 226 homes to Sendong victims in Iligan City will also be conducted on Saturday.

President Benigno Aquino III is expected to attend the anniversary, along with members of his Cabinet senators, lawmakers, mayors, diplomats and other guests.