No threats of violent attack, only ‘shame acts’ monitored for Bongbong Marcos’ oathtaking — Año

Members of the Explosive Ordnance Division of the Manila Police District hold a drill responding to a bomb threat in the vicinity of the National Museum in Manila on Monday, June 20, 2022, days before the inauguration of President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the historic building. (File photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — No threat of violent attacks and other atrocities for President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos’ inauguration has been monitored by law enforcement agencies, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said.

During a press briefing of the security cluster on Tuesday morning, Año said intelligence reports only point to attempts to shame Marcos during his oath taking, by staging rallies and protests.

“It’s more on trying to embarrass or put some shame acts. But on real threats like ‘yong mga violent plans na atrocities, at least so far ay contained at wala naman tayong namo-monitor (and we have not monitored any),” he said.

According to Año, some plans include shouting during rallies, burning effigies, or humiliating Marcos online.

“Ang particular na namonitor namin doon ay more on trying to embarrass the president while ongoing ang inauguration or oath taking, and this could be in various platforms, ‘yon nga sinasabi natin pwedeng sa mga nagra-rally, maghihiyaw sila do’n, baka mag-attempt sila magsunog ng effigy, tapos sa mga online and website platforms pupwedeng gawin nila ‘yon,” Año said.

(The particular thing we had monitored is more on trying to embarrass the president while the inauguration or oath-taking is ongoing, and this could be in various platforms — it can be during rallies, they could shout there, maybe they would try to burn effigies and maybe bring it to online platforms and their websites, they can do that.)

But Año also stressed that the law enforcement agencies like the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are well-trained to handle any untoward incident that may occur during Marcos’ inauguration ceremony.

The outgoing DILG Secretary said he has personally seen preparations made by the agencies, noting that specific plans have been laid out for Metro Manila and even outside of the capital.

“But we are actually prepared on any eventuality, nag-war gaming na rin tayo kahapon nando’n kami sa multi-agency coordination center at nakita ko ‘yong preparation ng lahat ng ahensya do’n, particularly ang AFP, PNP at saka Bureau of Fire (Protection),” Año said.

(But we are prepared for any eventuality, there were war games done yesterday when we were at the multi-agency coordination center and I saw the preparations of all agencies there, particularly the AFP PNP and the Bureau of Fire Protection.)

“So winar-game na rin nila ‘yong iba’t ibang mga scenario in Manila and even outside of the National Capital Region, and I’m very much satisfied on their preparations,” he added.

(So they planned different scenarios during war games, including situations in Manila and outside of the National Capital Region, and I’m very satisfied with their preparations.)

DILG is one of the agencies in the Subcommittee on Security, Traffic, and Communication of the Presidential Transition Committee, which was tasked to secure the area where Marcos’ inauguration would be held.

Earlier, both DILG and PNP assured that security preparations are complete and all systems are ready to go, with over 18,000 police and military officers and personnel from other offices tapped to secure the event.

Concerns were raised about the security of Marcos’ inauguration after Malaya released a statement confirming the existence of the intelligence reports. According to Malaya, the reports were particularly about communists allegedly plotting to disrupt or embarrass the President-elect during his oath-taking.

On Monday, PNP officer-in-charge Lt. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr. again discouraged protesters from staging rallies on the inauguration of Marcos, stressing that they are not out to suppress free speech.

Danao however clarified that they are only wary of rallies being used for sowing violence and disorder, noting that they will still enforce maximum tolerance.

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