PNP to Coordinate Security for INC Anniversary and Marcos' SONA

The Philippine National Police (PNP) will coordinate with the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) for security during its 112th founding anniversary event on Monday, July 27. “It would be a big gathering. We need to secure that gathering,” PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said in Filipino in an interview with reporters at Camp Crame on Tuesday. “We will talk to them about where they will hold their thanksgiving event. We will secure the event because tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands could be attending,” he added. Nartatez said the religious sect’s activity will coincide with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s fifth State of the Nation Address (Sona). Both the INC’s central office and a common rally site for the Sona are along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City. “It’s all in order. It’s in place. We have zipper lanes. We have no-rally zones. We have barriers. We have CDM. Name it, it’s all there,” Nartatez said in Filipino. As for the national police force’s preparations for the Sona, the PNP chief said the security plan was already in place for the Batasang Pambansa, Malacañang, Liwasang Bonifacio and the United States Embassy in Manila, the Senate in Pasay City, and the People Power Monument in Quezon City. The PNP previously said it was deploying 20,000 personnel for Marcos’ fifth Sona.