MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police is not discounting the possibility of using cell phone signal jammers during the traslacion for the Feast of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila on Jan. 9, the PNP’s top official said yesterday.
PNP chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. said cutting cell phone signals is among the security options being considered to protect millions of devotees who are expected to join the annual procession of the Black Nazarene after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic.
“Kasama sa practice ‘yan, but I will leave that to the police commanders on the ground and most likely, kapag ‘yan ang nirekomenda nila, gagawin natin,” Acorda said in a radio interview.
The PNP earlier said no security threat has been monitored related to the traslacion – the procession of the wooden image of the Black Nazarene along the streets of Manila.
Acorda said 13,691 police personnel would secure the traslacion, which they expect will draw around 2.5 million Catholic devotees.
He urged the public to follow the security protocols imposed by the organizers of the Feast of the Black Naz arene and government authorities for everyone’s safety.
Among these is the prohibition on carrying backpacks, umbrellas and canister bottles during the procession.
Wearing bull caps is also prohibited, police said.
“These are the things we want the people attending the procession to know para hindi na magkakasitahan (so accosting won’t be done),” Acorda said.
MANILA, Philippines — Students on all campuses of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines are asking the PUP administration to move the resumption of classes to Jan. 8, citing transportation difficulties and overwhelming academic workload.
In a letter addressed to PUP president Manuel Muhi, officers of 40 student councils and organizations said they sought the response of 11,940 students across the university’s 21 campuses and found that 10,433 students preferred on-site and online classes to resume on Jan. 8.
Classes are set to resume today.
At least 1,182 students prefer asynchronous classes from Jan. 3 to 7, while 189 want synchronous mode. More than 110 students prefer online and onsite classes to resume today.
“It has been d etermined that 87.5 percent of students prefer that classes, both online and on-site, resume on Jan. 8 because some students are still in the provinces,” the Alyansa ng Nagkakaisang Konseho ng Politeknikong Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (ANAK-PUP) said.
“The academic tasks assigned prior to the break remain incomplete as many students were engaged i n holiday celebrations,” ANAK-PUP added.
MANILA, Philippines — The government has allocated P200 million in capital outlay for the upgrade of the Borongan Airport in Eastern Samar.
House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan said the improvement of the airport would facilitate the transfer of people and goods as well as help bring more tourists to the city dubbed as the surfing capital of the Visayas.
“Our goal is to increase the airport’s capacity to accommodate more commercial flights,” Libanan said.
In 2023, flag-carrier Philippine Airlines started operating twice-weekly flights to Cebu.
“We look forward to other airlines operating in and out of Borongan,” Libanan said.
The allocation for the upgrade of the Borongan airport is necessary as a 200-meter extension of its 1.3-kilometer runway is underway.