PNP: No ‘overkill’ in Sona 2026 deployment, but rights groups raise concerns

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. maintained that there was no “overkill” in the deployment of over 21,000 law enforcers for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s fifth State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday, July 27. “We didn’t even deploy that many,” Nartatez told reporters while inspecting the agency’s deployment at the Quezon City Police District monitoring center in Camp Karingal. “There’s no such thing as overkill in ensuring peace and order and public safety. The more you bring in security forces, perhaps it’s more secure, is it not? What’s better? Security or peace and order with only minimal security or maximum security?” he asked. “We are 230,000 nationwide. We can utilize all these resources to ensure public safety as well as peace and order,” he added. This came after Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr. criticized the PNP for allegedly blocking protesters ahead of Marcos’ annual address. “What the PNP and the Marcos regime are doing isn’t maximum tolerance but maximum inconvenience and maximum oppression,” Reyes wrote in Filipino in a social media post. “Today, thousands of police officers are blocking the roads. They are the biggest inconvenience to the people because of their overkill security,” he added. The National Capital Region Police Office is currently on full alert for the Sona but maintains that no security threats have been monitored.