MANILA -- The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) on Tuesday said it is all set to secure events of the 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) which will be held in Metro Manila.
Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, NCRPO chief, said they are banking on the success of various international events that were held in the Philippines.
“Assumed with experience of NCRPO handling several international events before, we are confident that we can provide security and we can make adjustments because of new protocols. In the past, we secured heads of state. This time, we will secure athletes and another set of protocols is required during the actual activity,” Eleazar told the Philippine News Agency on the sidelines of his meeting with police commanders.
Eleazar assured that they remain in constant coordination with officials in charge of the biennial sports meet's events in Metro Manila.
“We have talked with those who belong to the Metro Manila cluster of the SEA games. We have set up our deployment plan and we still have a series of meetings that will be conducted as the date of the games approach. All police commanders will also attend brainstorming sessions for the events,” the Metro Manila top cop stressed.
Eleazar said they are set to deploy 14,800 cops after learning from the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) that 12 sports venues in Metro Manila will host 22 out of the SEA Games’ 56 sports disciplines.
Aside from Metro Manila, the SEA Games venues are Laguna, Bulacan, Tagaytay, Subic, and New Clark City sports complex in Capas, Tarlac.
According to Phisgoc, over 10,000 athletes from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor Leste, Singapore and Vietnam will participate in 543 sports events.
The Philippines will host for the fourth time the SEA Games from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11 this year.
The country won its first-ever SEA Games overall championship in 2005, the last time it hosted the biennial meet. The Philippines also hosted the 1981 and 1991 editions of the SEA Games. (PNA)
