13,000 police secure 1,700 Asean delegates in Manila

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The government is deploying 13,000 policemen to secure foreign ministers and diplomats attending the 50th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Ministerial Meeting in Manila this week, Manila’s police chief said Tuesday.

Chief Supt. Oscar Albayalde, director of the National Capital Region Police Office, said the police would need to secure 1,700 VIPs. He added that 1, 286 attached personnel from other agencies would also be deployed in the metropolis.

He said the Philippines was “very much ready to host” the Asean meetings.

“We have done our part. I think with all our efforts, we are very much ready to secure the Asean leaders,” Albayalde said in a Palace briefing.

He said some of the foreign ministers and diplomats had arrived in country and would be billeted in 21 hotels in Metro Manila.

“So as of this time, we have already have our skeletal deployment in some hotels because as I’ve said earlier, about 24 delegates from some countries have already arrived,” he said.

“So we have deployment in some billets or in some hotels already and, of course, our route securities are in place,” he added.

Albayalde said securing Asean ministers and diplomats during the Asean would be “a huge task” but said no specific threat had been monitored yet.

The Asean ministerial meetinig will be held at the Philippine International Convention Center  in Pasay City from August 2 to 8. CBB