DAVAO CITY—Tens of thousands of jubilant people gathered at the Crocodile Park here on Saturday to celebrate the election of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as the 16th president of the Philippines.
Teeming with crowds estimated at around 90,000 as of 5 p.m. and still expected to increase through the night as television and movie celebrities joined about 600 local performers in the celebration dubbed “Du31 (Duterte won) : One Love, One Nation” concert party.
The showbiz personalities included television stars Vice Ganda, Gladys Guevarra, Bernardo Bernardo, Ahron Villena, Carlos Agassi, Sarah Geronimo, Jimmy Bondoc, KZ Tandingam, Paolo Santos, Ron Dulay, and hosts Kath de Castro, Bayani Agbayani and Arnel Ignacio.
Also present were future members of Duterte’s Cabinet, including incoming finance secretary Carlos Dominguez, public works secretary Mark Villar, executive secretary Salvador Medialdea, losing senatorial bet Dionisio Santiago and press secretary Salvador Panelo.
People from all walks of life filled the park as early as lunch time and stayed on until Duterte arrived around 9 p.m. Saturday evening.
Despite physical difficulties, Naprey Almario, a member of Davao City’s Association of Differently Abled Persons, joined the event after being advised against going by the Presidential Security Group detail of the future president.
“Our relationship with the mayor has been very good. There are villages here in Davao for the disabled and a lot of support from the mayor. The PWDs are being given a job here,” Almario told The Standard.
Davao City Police Chief Superintendent Vicente Danao, in an interview said that almost 4,000 security personnel—including 1,500 policemen from the Davao City station were deployed to secure the event.
Security forces included members of the Presidential Security Group, Davao City and regional police, members of Task Force Davao and members of the military.
“We have at least three concentric layers of security measures. Before they can enter the venue, there are three areas of inspection. There are also civilian troops that were mobilized,” Danao told The Standard.
“There are Davao City Police that were organic, integrated to the PSG. There are PSG from Manila who are already integrated to his security force,” he added.
Danao said that they are doing everything to secure the people inside the venue and protect the president-elect.
“There will always be threats but because we have an event here, we are tightening up the security to ensure the safety within community,” he said.
“We are not downplaying these threats. What we are saying is that we are expecting a large group [to cause atrocities] in Davao. We are trying to preempt the atrocities that will happen.”
Members of Davao’s 911 team were also on standby as roads inside the compound were closed starting Friday evening while roads outside were heavily guarded.
Crocodiles being roasted over charcoal and cupcakes bearing Duterte’s image were among the attractions during the 12-hour concert with businessmen and stall owners selling Duterte merchandise.
Despite being very successful, the event didn’t came with difficulties, however.
Despite a previous agreement on coverage rules, the PSG barred private television networks from covering the thanksgiving party because of “security concerns.”
The PSG advised journalists and media entities “to remove all media setups near the stage and prevent backpack video coverage inside the grass ground… RTVM [Radio-TV Malacañang] and PTV 4 only allowed,” the message read.
In another advisory sent later in the day, the media men were informed that “no one will be allowed to cover in front of the stage except for PTV 4 and RTVM for security reasons.”
The advisory further instructed them to just “hook up with Manila PTV” for live feed of the party.
According to cameramen, who were setting up at the venue early Saturday, they were asked by PSG personnel to vacate the platforms located on the left and right portion of the stage.
The TV crews were nevertheless allowed to remain in the premises, but they had to relocate to an area about 500 meters from the stage.