MANILA, Philippines -- The head of the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) directorate for operations said the deployment for the expected protests on Monday, when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo delivers her state of the nation address, will cost the organization.

Director Silverio Alarcio said that the deployment means an additional P30 subsistence allowance for each policeman, aside from the P90 they receive daily.

Over 6,000 policemen will be fielded on Monday to ensure peace and security at the various rallies activist and opposition groups are expected to stage in Metro Manila and elsewhere in the country.

Security forces in the National Capital Region, where the largest rallies are expected, will be augmented by personnel from the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon provinces) and Central Luzon regions.

"It would be better if there would be no rallies,” Alarcio said. But of course it is part of our mandate to keep the peace, so we just have to accept that whenever there are rallies, we have to be there, even if it is expensive."

He acknowledged that local government units sometimes provide a food allowance but stressed that this was just a small part of the PNP's expenses for such rallies, which include transporting the reinforcements from the provinces to Metro Manila.