Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada on Tuesday told the public to expect armed policemen guarding the gates of public elementary and high schools in the city on the first day of classes on June 5.
Estrada ordered this security measure to ensure the safety of thousands of returning students, faculty, and school personnel, amid fears of a repeat of the recent Quiapo bomb blasts that killed two people.
“I’ve ordered MPD [Manila Police District] Director Chief Supt. [Joel] Coronel to lay a protective cover around our schools. We don’t want any unfortunate incident to happen on the first day of classes,” Estrada said.
The mayor also tasked MPD to carry out citywide clearing and anti-criminality operations in areas with high concentration of schools and learning centers such as the University Belt to remove illegal vendors, vagrants, lawless elements, and traffic-causing obstructions and eyesores.
The operations will also target illegal pedicabs and colorum public utility vehicles. Illegal structures will also be removed to clear up more road space for pedestrians and motorists.
As ordered by Estrada, Coronel said they will put up a police assistance desk or PAD in each of the 77-public elementary and high schools in the city manned by four armed policemen.
“Our assistance desks will be put up just at the entrances of the schools. Our men will be there until mag-normalize na ang school year,” Coronel said. This will be done in coordination with the school authorities and the Department of Education (DepEd), he added.
“We are coordinating closely, particularly in our security deployment,” Coronel said. “We expect a lot of students trooping to schools and this would also cause heavy traffic.”
Around 25-million students are expected to return to school this June, including Grade 12 students who will be the first batch of graduates of the senior high school program, according to DepEd.
Due to the incidents in Quiapo on April 28 and May 6 that resulted in the deaths of two people and injuries to 20 more, Coronel said the 4,600-strong MPD remained on full alert, especially with the upcoming start of the holy month of Ramadan at the end of the month.
Last Thursday, Estrada ordered the local police to put into place “foolproof” security arrangements at the Muslim community in Quiapo and other Islamic cultural centers across the city.
Coronel said a total of 425 policemen will be deployed throughout the city, with the biggest concentration in Quiapo and the Islamic Center.
