Some 5,000 cops, MMDA personnel deployed vs militants

SEEKING DIVINE GUIDANCE. Policemen and their officials hear mass early Monday before they are deployed to secure the areas leading to Congress at the Batasan Pambansa where President Benigno Aquino III will deliver his second State of the Nation Address. Kate Evangelista/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippine – The Philippine National Police held a mass along Commonwealth Avenue where militants are expected to hold protest actions for President Benigno Aquino III’s second State of the Nation Address Monday.

Senior Superintendent Leonardo Carlos, National Capital Region Police Office spokesman, said some 5000 policemen and personnel of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority have been deployed to the area.

Carlos added that their main focus would be the traffic that the protesters would cause.

The northbound lane of Commonwealth Ave starting from Ever Gotesco Mall was blocked off to give way to the rallyists.

Meanwhile, human rights officers were also deployed to “remind policemen na meron silang [that they have a] human rights watch,” said Captain Datuman Mokalid Al-Hadj, chief of the Regional Human Rights Affairs Office.