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MANILA — The Philippine National Police (PNP) is poised to deploy about 5,000 of its personnel to secure the Batasang Pambansa complex for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s second State of the Nation Address (SONA), Quezon City's top cop said Tuesday.

In a public briefing, Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Director BGen. Nicolas Torre III said the deployment is composed of 2,000 from his own district and 3,000 others from PNP stations outside the city.

About 400 to 500 personnel from other government security branches, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PNP), would also be deployed, Torre said.

"Tapos iyong iba mga civilians, taga-CHR [Commission on Human Rights], kasama namin iyan at ibang agencies, mga 300. So total iyan, nasa 7,000-8,000 tayo," he added.

But Torre clarified that the deployment would only support the House of Representatives' sergeant-at-arms, the office leading security measures for Marcos' SONA.

QCPD, on the other hand, would be the PNP's primary task unit—particularly on crowd control—as Batasang Pambansa is in its area of responsibility.

"We have already conducted a series of meetings... This is a national event at andiyan ang national headquarters na nagsu-supervise sa amin, ang [NCRPO] ay sumusuporta rin. Ang primary task unit, (lalo na sa crowd control), ay ang QCPD sapagkat nandito nga ang Batasang Pambansa," Torre said.

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SONA PROTESTS

Meanwhile, Torre said the QCPD has yet to receive applications for permits to hold protest rallies during Marcos' second SONA.

He said that while the police respects the constitutional right to speech and expression, Commonwealth Avenue—where protesters usually hold SONA rallies—is not a freedom park.

"BP 880 requires [a] permit be granted before somebody can do a rally, kilos-protesta, o anumang pagpapahayag ng kanilang saloobin outside of the freedom parks," he said.

Torre added that he expects permit applications to be filed within this week, pending approval of Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte.

"Kami naman, nagpe-prepare, naghahanda, we always hope for the best, but we always prepare for the worst and we are always getting ready for worst-case scenarios," he said.