MANILA – The Office of Civil Defense in the National Capital Region (OCD-NCR) has confirmed that ample resources are in place to guarantee a peaceful and orderly Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) National Rally for Peace on January 13. Director George Keyser of OCD-NCR emphasized that safety is the top priority for this major event, ensuring that all participants can rally without any worries.
A significant deployment of over 120 personnel, including two light urban search and rescue teams from the Philippine Army’s 525th Engineer Combat Battalion, will be on site. They will be supported by a substantial force of 4,418 police officers and 1,200 personnel from the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA). Keyser personally inspected the MMDA’s Mobile Command Center located on TM Kalaw Street.
In preparation for the rally, Keyser also held discussions with Edwin Nasol, the vice president for disaster preparedness and emergency response at the Society of Communicators and Networkers (SCAN) International, to fine-tune security measures. Nasol reported that 17,000 INC members are ready for emergency response duties.
Further coordination was made with Arnel Angeles, head of the Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (DRRMO) and Incident Commander, who updated Keyser on the additional resources being deployed. In response to the event, both the Manila DRRMO and the Metro Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (MMDRRMC) have escalated their alert status to ‘red’ to ensure thorough safety protocols.
The rally, anticipated to attract between 500,000 to 1 million attendees at the Quirino Grandstand, has seen INC members starting to arrive, with parking spaces from Anda Circle to Roxas Boulevard rapidly filling. Keyser highlighted the importance of inter-agency and local government collaboration for a seamless event, and mentioned the use of a Virtual Emergency Operations Center (VEOC) meeting via Zoom for ongoing monitoring.