The Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City was locked down Saturday in preparation for President Rodrigo Duterte’s annual State of the Nation Address on Monday.
House Sergeant-at-Arms Lt. Gen. Roland M. Detabali said all security plans and deployment are in place.
With the lockdown, troops from the Presidential Security Group assumed responsibility for the 19-hectare complex where the House of Representatives holds office.
As early as Friday, PSG troops in battle were deployed at the complex. Incoming vehicles without House of Representatives decals were inspected, causing a queue of vehicles from the inspection bay up to the Batasan Road several hundred meters away.
“[We] have more agencies, forces, and equipment that can deal with any emergencies now,” Detabali said, adding that they were holding exercises to deal with all contingencies.
“We have held numerous inter-agency meetings, plannings and rehearsals considering all possible scenarios from bombings, fire, [to] chemical attacks… and have measures in place to ensure the safety of the President, or other VIPs, guests and personnel,” Detabali added.
Bomb-sniffing dogs were also taken to the various areas in the complex.
House Secretary-General Cesar Strait Pareja, chairman of the Sona 2018 steering committee, said the House is prepared for any eventuality this year.
Pareja said the House Secretariat and the Senate have been prepared, and are now ready for the most anticipated annual event of Congress—the Sona and the opening of the Third Regular Session.
“Just to assure you, based on what we have been doing before, we prepare for the worst but we expect the best. We hope for the best, but we are ready in case anything happens,” said Pareja.
Detabali also said that land and air forces as well as civilian agencies are on alert and will work together to ensure that the event will take place without any untoward incident.
He said a Joint Coordinating Command Center or the JCC will take the lead, with representatives from all agencies present, including medical and fire teams, in orchestrating security procedures and addressing problems on movement, safety and security.
On Monday, Duterte is scheduled to deliver his third Sona amid a drastic decline in his acceptance ratings in various public opinion polls.
As soon as he assumed the presidency, he launched a bloody campaign against illegal drugs that has resulted so far in the killing of about 17,000 almost all of them denizens of squatter colonies or other depressed areas.
Duterte also made statements mocking God.
Fear of revenge from the kin of any of the 17,000 people killed or retribution from God prompted the PSG to implement drastic security measures like the Batasan complex lockdown.
Despite the criticisms lodged because of his rough talk and seemingly totalitarian tendencies, he has been credited with maintaining the momentum of the economy and taking steps to cleanse the bureaucracy.
Under his watch, several officials were fired even if no charges were filed against them because the President said he caught a whiff of corruption in them.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel III on Friday said he expects the President to give an accurate report on the state of the country when he delivers his Sona.
He said he also wants to hear the President discuss his overall vision and philosophy for the country, as well as specifics on how to achieve his goals.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he expects the President to talk about the proposed universal health package and federalism.
Opposition Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said the Sona should address the plight of poor Filipinos burdened by high prices due to the government’s Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law.
“They say the Sona this time is from the heart. I just hope it will come from a heart that has compassion for the poor Filipinos being hit by the program of the government,” Aquino said.
Senator Francis Pangilinan, president of the opposition Liberal Party, said Filipinos were hurting and needed relief.
“This is the shout of our countrymen. I hope he listens and addresses these concerns,” he said.
Consistent critic Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said he expects Duterte to “rant and lie” to the Filipino people “like he always does.”
“Particularly, he would likely create a false bleak scenario for our country to justify the need for Cha-cha and a shift to federalism as soon as possible,” Trillanes said.
Vice President Leni Robredo said she is determined to attend the Sona even if the President uses the occasion to “insult and humiliate” her.
In Naga City, Robredo said she had been advised by some not to attend the Sona at the House of Representatives on July 23, but she declined to heed the advice.
She said she wanted to hear the President’s speech and what he would say about inflation under his administration.
“I am attending even if there are people who have discouraged me not to do so. Some of them fear that he might just insult me or humiliate me [there]. On my part, first of all, it is my obligation to be there,” she said.
“I am used to being insulted,” she said.
Robredo, whom Duterte branded as “incompetent,” has attended the President’s first two Sonas.
Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio, on the other hand, will not be attending, Pareja said.
Carpio, as well as former President Benigno Aquino III, sent his regrets.
The House of Representatives has doubled the capacity of its session hall to accommodate more than 1,500 guests, with plastic chairs for use in case there are more people in the gallery.
“We’re still having problems with the guests that are still asking to be included. As we said, we can only accept the maximum amount that we projected of 3,000,” Pareja said.
Two days before the Sona, labor groups delivered their own assessment of the state of the nation, highlighting the failures of Duterte to meet his campaign promises to raise wages, cut unemployment and put an end to abusive contractual work schemes.
The Nagkaisa! Labor Coalition and Kilusang Mayo Uno portrayed the real state of Filipino workers under the two years of President Duterte as deprived and neglected.
“No end to ENDO. Run over by TRAIN. Waiting in vain for a significant wage increase. Labor rights violated,” this is how Nagkaisa! and KMU described the sorry state of workers for the past two years.
“Failing to address the issue of contractualization, the government tries to cover up the failure to deliver the promise of ending contractualization by citing empty statistics,” KMU and Nagkaisa! said.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has said the government has helped regularize more than 180,000 workers and that his department will regularize 300,000 more within the year, a claim the labor groups disputed.
“The truth, is that the number of contractual workers is rising, even based on the government’s own data,” labor groups said.
The Metro Manila Development Authority said it will reroute traffic in Quezon City for the Sona Monday.
In its advisory released Friday, the MMDA said the stretch of Commonwealth Avenue from Tandang Sora to Batasan will be closed beginning at 12:01 am on Monday and it advised motorists to take alternate routes to avoid traffic and inconvenience.
Motorists traversing the southbound lane of Commonwealth Avenue from Fairview going to Quezon Memorial Circle may take Fairlane Street, right to Dahlia Avenue, left to Lilac Street or Chestnut, right to Republic Avenue, Don Gregorio Road, Old Sauyo to Mindanao Avenue and vice versa, or turn right to Regalado Avenue, right to Republic Avenue, Don Gregorio Road, Old Sauyo Road to Mindanao Avenue and vice versa.
Eastbound vehicles along Quezon Memorial Circle may turn right to Visayas Avenue, take a left turn to Congressional Avenue, right turn to Mindanao Avenue, right turn to Old Sauyo or Quirino Highway to their destination or turn right to North Avenue, right to Mindanao Avenue, right to Old Sauyo Road or Quirino Highway on to their destination.
Metro Manila police director Guillermo Eleazar said earlier that all security measures are in place for the President’s third Sona.
Aside from 6,000 policemen and some 600 soldiers will secure the Sona Personnel from MMDA and Quezon City’s Department of Public Order and Safety will also be deployed to help secure the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City, he added.
Eleazar said the police will enforce maximum tolerance in dealing with various groups who will conduct rallies during the annual event.
“All groups who want to express their sentiments are free to do so, with or without the permit to stage rally. But the policy on applying for a permit stands,” he said.
He also appealed to groups of protesters as well as supporters to observe agreements during consultations to ensure peace and order and to avoid violence.
Duterte’s security team has advised him not to meet militant leaders at the venue of their demonstrations as he has done in the past.
“For the good of the President and the good of the country, we are advising the advisers of the President to refrain from going there,” Detabali said on Friday.
“Maybe the [protest] leaders can come here. The President can invite them,” he said.
In last year’s Sona, President Duterte held a dialogue with the protesters at the Batasan Complex after his speech.
