As part of the security plan, Police officers are to inspect backpacks at the “EDSA Tayo” prayer vigil.
Metro Manila police head Chief Superintendent Marcelo Garbo Jr. said they did not want a repeat of the Boston Marathon bombing at the “EDSA Tayo” event, radio dzBB’s Sam Nielsen reported.
A backpack was used to conceal pressure-cooker bombs in the Boston Marathon bombing earlier this year.
Police units area also prepared for the possibility of a spillover from the Zamboanga City clashes. Government troops and the Moro National Liberation Front gunmen fought a battle within the city limits Monday, leaving six people dead.
Wednesday’s “EDSA Tayo” activity is a follow-up of the August 26 anti-pork barrel gathering at the Luneta in Manila.
Sept 11 terror attack
Meanwhile, Intelligence units of the Philippine National Police are on alert for possible threats marking the 12th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attack on the United States.
PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac said they are working with the intelligence community to verify possible threats on the anniversary, radio dzBB’s Tuesday Niu reported.
Sindac added the PNP has not forgotten the significance of the 2001 terror attack, in which hijacked planes were flown into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Also, Sindac said the PNP’s intelligence unit is exchanging notes with its counterparts in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and National Intelligence Coordinating Agency.
However, the PNP spokesperson explained that these efforts were separate from preparations to secure a prayer vigil against the pork barrel fund at the EDSA Shrine on the same date, September 11. — DVM, GMA News
