‘Millions of Filipinos will protect the Pope’

CBCP president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–It is not the thousands of crack troops and police officers who can adequately ensure the safety of Pope Francis during his visit to the Philippines this week but the millions of Filipinos who want to see him, the head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said on Monday.

Pope Francis arrives in Manila on Thursday for a four-day apostolic visit that will culminate in a Mass at Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park on Sunday.

Organizers expect up to 6 million people to attend the Mass, surpassing the crowd of 5 million that attended the Mass celebrated by Pope, now Saint, John Paul II at the same venue at the conclusion of World Youth Day celebrations in January 1995.

The Pope will also visit Tacloban City in Leyte province on Saturday to say Mass at the airport there and share a meal with survivors of the 2013 earthquake in Bohol province and of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) in nearby Palo town.

No terrorist threat

The government and the military said Monday that there was no terrorist threat against the Pope.

Emmanuel Bautista, head of government security for the papal visit, said all security forces had their “ears on the ground” but no threat, including from terrorist groups, had been monitored.

“Terrorist threats have been factored in in our security plan. So far, we have not monitored any terrorist threat. But we are prepared. We continue to keep our ears on the ground,” Bautista, a former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, told the Inquirer on the phone.

The military, too, said there was no threat against the Pope.

Col. Restituto Padilla, AFP spokesman, said “people surge”—uncontrolled rush of people—in venues of the Pope’s public events remained the only security concern so far.

Fresh concerns over security followed reports that Philippine National Police intelligence units had been placed on alert for possible attacks from foreign terrorists.

But Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina, PNP officer in charge, denied the reports, maintaining that the PNP had not issued a “terror warning” for the papal visit.

Padilla said no such information had come from military intelligence units, adding that even the communist New People’s Army (NPA) has declared a ceasefire for the duration of the Pope’s visit.

Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor, PNP spokesman, denied the reports of a terrorist threat against the Pope. He also denied the issuance of orders for police intelligence units to track down foreigners linked to terrorist groups.

“At any rate, all of our actions and operations are part of our security measures for the papal visit,” Mayor said.

‘Not overreaction’

Eighteen government agencies are involved in the security arrangements for the papal visit. The PNP will deploy 25,000 officers to secure the venues of the Pope’s public events. The military has thousands of troops deployed to beef up security for the Pope’s visit.

“This is not an overreaction, this is not something that we just thought of. We are doing all this because we all want to secure the Pope and the people around him,” said Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who met with other officials involved in the security preparations hours before the start of the dry run for the arrival of the Pontiff yesterday afternoon.

The biggest event will be Sunday’s Mass at Rizal Park, with the expected size of the crowd worrying officials.

Rizal Park will be closed on Saturday night, to be reopened to the public at 6 a.m. on Sunday, just hours before the Pope’s Mass.

The LRT stations near Rizal Park will be closed. Commuters will have to take trains at other nearby stations.

‘Bring a lot of joy’

To ensure that Pope Francis’ finale at Rizal Park will be peaceful, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the CBCP, urged the people who will attend the Mass to “bring a lot of joy” and to look out for one another.

“I don’t think that the PSG (Presidential Security Group), the military and the police can adequately provide security for the Pope and for all of us,” Villegas said at a forum organized by the Philippine Daily Inquirer at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) on Monday.

“It would be the personal commitment of [the people] to be caring for one another because it is not enough that there is no trouble during the papal visit … [it] should become the most loving event in Metro Manila and in Tacloban and the one to do it would be the millions of Filipinos who want to see Pope Francis,” Villegas said.

The forum, Inquirer Conversations, was conducted with columnists Ceres Doyo and Michael Tan as part of the Catholic Church’s continuing initiative to prepare the faithful for the arrival of the Pope. It was attended by students and journalists.

In an interview with reporters after the forum, Villegas said the government and security officials were doing everything humanly possible to ensure the safety of the Pope and that he was satisfied with the measures being taken.

But he appealed to the millions of people who will be taking part in the papal events, especially the Mass at Rizal Park, to put the needs of their neighbors before their own to avoid chaos and confusion.

“We are answerable to each other … and that is also the key to an organized and peaceful assembly,” Villegas said.

“[B]ring a lot of joy. We are [attending these events] to show that we are happy Christians, that it is fun to be a Filipino Christian,” he added.

Hours before the concluding Mass, Pope Francis will attend a youth rally at UST, where a big crowd is also expected.

Appeal for public order

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. aired President Aquino’s appeal to the public to be calm and orderly when they join mammoth crowds to see the Pope.

“Even the slightest commotion can lead to a stampede and that is what we don’t want to happen,” Coloma told reporters on Monday. “The President particularly appeals to the people to be calm and to obey the designated marshals, ushers and the police,” he added.

At the forum, Villegas also reminded the audience that Tacloban City and Palo, which have been devastated by Supertyphoon Yolanda, were the “centerpiece” of the Pope’s visit to the Philippines.

“Let us not forget that the primary reason for the papal visit is really to console the victims of Yolanda. The Manila event and the UST event are actually just add-ons,” he said.

“In other words … the UST and [Rizal Park] events can be removed but not those in Tacloban and Palo because that is the centerpiece of the papal visit,” he said.

‘Popechopper’ in Leyte?

In Leyte, Palo Archbishop John Du said local organizers were expecting “a million” people to welcome the Pope to Leyte on Saturday.

He said there was a possibility of airlifting the Pope from the airport after Mass there to Palo for his meeting with earthquake and typhoon survivors.

Du said helicopters had been doing simulation flights since the weekend just in case the Pope would require air transport to Palo.

Villegas noted that the Pope was visiting at a time when the Philippines is suffering from the effects of environmental abuse. “We have destroyed Mother Nature and we are reaping the fruits of what we have sown,” he said.

Following his visit to the Philippines, Pope Francis is expected to issue an encyclical on climate change that would urge the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics to take action on moral and scientific grounds.–With reports from Nikko Dizon, Julie M. Aurelio and Cynthia D. Balana in Manila, and Joey Gabieta and Carla Gomez, Inquirer Visayas