Police said nearly 25,000 individuals attended the Barug PDP-Laban rallies in Cebu City, Friday night, April 1. | CDND file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Nearly 25,000 individuals participated in the simultaneous rallies organized by Barug PDP-Laban in Cebu City Friday night, April 1, 2022.
Despite the presence of a huge crowd, the political gatherings remained peaceful and orderly, Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy director for operations of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said.
Parilla said they deployed a total of 120 uniformed policemen at the rally venues in Barangays Lahug, Talamban, Tinago, and Cogon Ramos in the city’s north district and Barangays San Nicolas, Tisa, Guadalupe, and Poblacion Pardo in the south.
About a hundred members of the Task Force Kasaligan were also deployed to augment the police.
“[We had] uniformed personnel. Kadtong dagko nga venue naay tag 20 ka personnel unya mga gagmay-gagmay tag 15. Unom ka area nga tag 15 ka uniformed personnel tas duha ka area nga tag 20,” Parilla said.
(We deployed uniformed personnel. We deployed 20 personnel in bigger venues and 15 for the smaller ones. We deployed 15 personnel in six areas 20 in two others places.)
And based on their crowd monitoring, at least 24, 900 supporters came to the different rally venues, Parilla said.
However, Parilla disputed reports of heavy congestion that resulted from the political gatherings Friday night.
“Ang traffic is the normal traffic ra,” he said.
(The traffic that we experienced was just normal traffic.)
On Saturday, it is the turn of Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) to gather its supporters at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) for their group’s first grand rally.
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/ dcb