THE Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO 7) described the Trillion Peso March held during the commemoration of the birth anniversary of Gat Andres Bonifacio as orderly and peaceful, with no crimes recorded.
Police Brigadier General Redrico Maranan, PRO 7 director, said more than 2,000 police personnel were deployed to ensure a peaceful protest march joined by various sectors and led by the Catholic Church in Cebu.
Their estimate placed the crowd at 4,000 to 5,000 participants. However, Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council chairperson Dave Tumulak said that based on their drone video, the number reached 8,000 to 10,000 people.
Maranan said the heavy police deployment aimed to prevent any crimes and to implement the security plan prepared days before the protest.
“Zero incident nga tayo. No untoward incident at even a single case of theft and eight-focus crimes happened within the vicinity of the places of engagement natin yesterday,” said Maranan.
(Zero incident — no untoward incident, not even a single case of theft or any of the eight focus crimes happened within the vicinity of the areas of engagement yesterday.)
Maranan added that aside from the thousands of police officers on the ground, they also prepared hundreds more as a standby force under the Civil Disturbance Management (CDM) unit in case of unrest.
He thanked the participants of the large protest action, including the organizers and progressive groups, for demonstrating discipline and avoiding any disturbance.
“Tayo ay nagpapasalamat din sa ating mga kababayan na nag sagawa ng protest rally for being so disciplined, na talagang nakita natin na disiplinado talaga ang mga Cebuano. Kahit nagpapahayag sila ng kanilang karapatan at yung kanilang gustong sabihin sa pamahalaan, they remain to be peaceful at sumusunod doon sa mga policies at mga batas na pinatutupad natin to keep us all safe and secured,” he added.
(We also thank our fellow citizens who conducted the protest rally for being so disciplined. We saw how disciplined the Cebuanos were — even while expressing their rights and what they wanted to tell the government, they remained peaceful and compliant with our policies and laws to keep everyone safe and secure.)
Police Lieutenant Colonel Jose Losbaños, information officer of the Cebu City Police Office, earlier said they began deploying personnel on the streets as early as 5 a.m. because a progressive group had an early program scheduled.
By 8 a.m., the group led by Jaime Paglinawan marched toward Colon Street, where they held a short program.
The group was given ample time to express their grievances against the government, particularly on alleged massive corruption in flood-control projects involving billions of pesos. (AYB)