In Korea, mere chalk barriers worked

MANILA, Philippines - In South Korea, mere chalk barriers worked for crowd management when Pope Francis visited last year.

Koreans warmly welcomed Pope Francis last August without ever crossing the lines drawn on the road with chalk.

The Philippine government, however, has to set up concrete barriers and breakers as part of security measures to ensure Pope Francis would not be mobbed.

Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Chief Superintendent Wilben Mayor said the discipline the Koreans showed during the pope’s visit to their country in August 2014 was admirable.

“If they can do it, why can’t we?” Mayor asked.

Mayor said the pope’s visit would be a great opportunity for Filipinos to show discipline before the world.

About 25,000 policemen will be involved in the security preparations for Pope Francis during his visit in the country.

Mayor said police forces would be involved in securing the areas the pope would visit while the others will be in charge of the perimeter and route security.

Mayor stressed the PNP has been preparing elaborate security measures for Pope Francis’ visit.

The PNP will provide operational support to the Presidential Security Group and close-in security services to the pope’s entourage.

Mayor said the PNP is part of the Committee on Security on Peace and Order, which is composed of 18 government agencies involved in security preparation for the pope.

Mayor added under the committee is a joint task force headed by Director Ricardo Marquez dubbed as Special Task Force “Papal Visit 2015.”

There are two task groups for Manila and Leyte, and several sub-task groups headed by ranking police officers.

“(There is security for the) venue and activity in specific engagements for the pope, there will be specific task group, specific security personnel which is a whole government approach,” he said.

Contingencies

Wary that the crime rate may increase in areas outside of Manila in the wake of the national mobilization of the police force, the PNP yesterday said it will try to make up for the lack of policemen on the streets of Metro Manila during the five-day papal visit.

Northern Police District (NPD) director Chief Superintendent Jonathan Miano, Task Force Group commander of the security arrangement for the papal visit, said there is a possibility that crime rates will go up in areas far from where Pope Francis is going to visit since the police are deployed on papal duty.

“We are ready for this (possibility),” Miano said.

“We took a bigger percentage of the police force and assigned them for the (papal) visit but the personnel left were equally distributed so that they will be able to respond to any eventualities,” he added.

Because of the contingencies, Miano said police personnel left in their respective precincts have to work overtime. He added that more than 50 percent, mostly taken from the offices of their respective headquarters, were pulled out and those left will be assigned to patrol the streets.

“In NPD for example, we have 2,600 personnel but we assigned 1,600. It will be a holiday during the papal visit so people, particularly Catholics, who are not going to Manila will just be staying home,” Miano said. – Rey Galupo