More than 5,000 warm bodies to secure Dinagyang

By Jennifer P. Rendon

Police officers and force multipliers will swarm Iloilo City in time for the Dinagyang Festival 2020 highlights on Jan 25-26.

On Thursday, members of the security forces, emergency responders, and force multipliers were formally deployed at the Iloilo City Hall grounds.

In attendance during the send-off ceremony were Police Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan, Western Visayas police chief; Colonel Marion Sison, commander of the Philippine Army’s 301st Infantry Brigade; Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas; and lone district Rep. Julienne Baronda.

Pamuspusan said they will replicate the security plans they implemented during Kalibo’s Ati-Atihan Festival on Jan 18 – 19.

Security Task Group (STG) Dinagyang is composed of 5,123 personnel.

the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) sent 1,940 police personnel to augment the 707 officers of the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO).

On the other hand, the Philippine Army sent 97 military personnel while Coast Guard Western Visayas deployed 134 personnel.

Also in the group are 117 emergency responders – 21 from the Iloilo City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office and 96 from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).

They will be augmented by 2,128 force multipliers from the Barangay Peacekeeping Action Teams (BPATs), criminology students, and other groups.

Pamuspusan said the success of Ati-Atihan was anchored on the preparations of the stakeholders.

“We prepared and prepared well for that event. We focused on the task at hand,” he said.

With the same preparations and focus for the Dinagyang, Pamupusan expresses confidence that the Dinagyang will have the same result: a zero major incident during the year.

Pamuspusan said Dinagyang is the first major security deployment in Iloilo City for the year.

“We should internalize the thought that the success of this undertaking will set the tone for the subsequent deployments,” he said.

With several more events coming up, the PNP has approved the cancellation of the permit to carry firearm outside of residence (PTCFOR) during the Dinagyang Festival 2020 starting Jan. 22 until Jan. 27, 2020; Chinese New Year (Jan. 25 to 28, 2020); Jaro Fiesta (Jan. 31 – Feb. 3, 2020); Paraw Regatta (Feb. 20 to 24, 2020); and Iloilo Charter Day (Aug. 23 to 26, 2020).

Since last year, Pamuspusan said they had a series of conferences which aid to solidly prepare for this year festivals in Western Visayas.

With the success of Ati-Atihan, the first major festival of the year, “hope to replicate, if not to exceed, our performance during this weekend’s deployment of the world-renowned Dinagyang Festival,” Pamuspusan said during the send-off ceremony.

He told policemen that their commanders should be proactive enough in ensuring preparedness among all concerned units, taking into consideration the MESF (Major Event Security Framework) that they discussed.

The MESF template was the one used during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ministerial meetings.

Under the plan, STG Dinagyang will have to sustain intelligence monitoring of threat groups; conduct police operations against threat groups; render public safety services and ensure deployment of security personnel in all places of activities; and continuous liaison and coordination with other concerned agencies.

“I can’t stress enough the importance of having a complete plan in any major undertaking,” he said citing that the policemen and force multipliers that would be deployed have already experienced the stringent security preparations we had during major events in the past years.

“By being familiar with the preparations, you are all aware of the required sacrifice and hard work that the activity demands of us,” he said.