PNoy forms national panel to organize papal visit

 News
Oct 022014
 

President Benigno Aquino III has formed a national panel composed of Cabinet officials to lead government preparations for Pope Francis’ visit to the Philippines in January next year.

In Memorandum Circular No. 72, Aquino directed the committee, to be lead by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., to coordinate with the local Roman Catholic Church leaders and the private sector in preparing for the papal visit.

“All heads of the different government departments, local governments as well as the private sectors are encouraged to participate and coordinate all efforts to make sure that the visit of His Holiness in our country next year will be well organized and peaceful,” Ochoa said in a statement Friday.

Pope Francis, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the head of state of Vatican City, is scheduled to visit the Philippines from January 15 to 19 next year.
Manila Archibishop Luis Cardinal Tagle said the Pope would visit areas affected by super typhoon Yolanda in the Visayas as well as some places in Manila.

This will be the first papal visit to the Philippines after two decades. The last time a head of the Roman Catholic Church visited the country was in January 1995, when then-Pope John Paul II led the celebration of World Youth Day in Manila. Pope John Paul II (now called St. John Paul II) also visited the Philippines in 1981.

Peace and order, traffic plan

The committee will also supervise peace and order preparations, and the crafting of a traffic management plan for Pope Francis’ visit.

The Presidential Security Group has been tasked to secure Pope Francis during his Philippine visit. Assisting the PSG are the Philippine National Police (PNP) and a battalion of soldiers who earlier served as peacekeepers in Golan Heights.

Aquino’s memorandum also ordered the creation of two local executive committees in Manila and Leyte–two areas which the Pope will visit–to be led by Ochoa’s undersecretaries.

Other members of the national organizing committee for the Pope’s visit include Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, National Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson, and Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya. 

Also inlcuded in the panel are Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., Armed Forces chief Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr., PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Francis Tolentino.

Last July, Aquino already asked the entire government to ensure the success of the papal visit.

The Philippines is the largest Roman Catholic nation in Asia. More than 80 percent of the over 100 million Filipinos are Roman Catholics. — RSJ, GMA News

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