By AARON RECUENCO
Police forces in Taguig City will be placed on heightened alert status starting Wednesday, or a day before the much-anticipated promulgation of the Maguindanao massacre, for any eventuality that may occur in the conclusion of the 10-year legal proceedings on December 19.
Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas, acting director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), said that the entire Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan will be on highest security alert status, of full alert, as part of the security measures, which include strict entry and exit of even policemen inside the camp from Wednesday to Thursday.
“There will be a lockdown of the camp starting 6 a.m. on December 19, meaning, nobody will be allowed to enter and exit the camp at the duration of the promulgation,” said Sinas.
Under the heightened alert status, at least 50 percent of the police forces of Taguig City must be present from Wednesday to Thursday while full alert status mandates 100 percent attendance of all policemen assigned inside the NCRPO Headquarters at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan.
Sinas said at least 730 policemen will be tapped to secure Camp Bagong Diwa, with a number of armed cops will also be placed as standby force.
JUDGE, LAWYERS SECURED
The official said there will also be a number of policemen whose task is to secure the private and government lawyers that prosecuted the accused in the massacre. A separate team of policemen will also be assigned to secure the judge.
“We provided close-in security for the judge in order to ensure his safety. We will also be providing a bulletproof car for her,” said Sinas.
Sinas is referring to Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221.
“We have already discuss with the (Supreme Court) Chief Justice (Diosdado Peralta) and the judge about the security measures that will be implemented during the promulgation,” said Sinas.
Sinas also urged both the supporters of the accused and the victims to refrain from holding protest actions outside Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan.
“We do not want to disrupt the traffic in the area so we will not allow the conduct of rally there,” said Sinas.
But seeing the inevitability of people who would show support to both the camp of the accused and the victims, Sinas said they already established a measure to separate them to avoid clashes.
Sinas also clarified that they will not be implementing signal jamming inside the camp which was initially brought up.
“We discuss it with the judge and court officials, it is harmful than good,” said Sinas.
The NCRPO leadership is expected to issue a guideline on Monday as to the rules that would be implemented inside the camp on December 18 and 19.