Tight security for papal visit to Philippines

Manila: Helicopters, naval boats, and buffer roads were opened and their respective personnel were on red alert hours before Pope Francis landed at Metro Manila’s Pasay City around 5pm on Thursday.

“Soldiers would be rappelling up and down helicopters to rescue Pope Francis in a worst-case scenario — such as the blockage of his convoy from Pasay City’s Villamor Airbase to Manila’s Roxas Boulevard, eastward on Quirino Avenue and on Taft Avenue, where his residence, the Apostolic Nunciature, is located,” said Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen Gregorio Catapang.

“Naval boats were assigned to bring the pope to his destination safely if necessary,” said Catapang, adding the naval rescue operation will remain in place throughout the pope’s visit until he leaves on Monday.

The Philippines has good reason to be nervous: Assassination attempts were made on two previous pontiffs in past visits. In 1970, a Bolivian artist tried to stab Pope Paul VI on arrival at Manila’s airport, and 25 years later, Pope John Paul II avoided a bomb attack in the city.

Authorities are also on edge after last week’s killing of 17 people in France, which began with in an attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, and December’s siege in a Sydney cafe that ended in a shoot-out. About 37,000 policemen and soldiers will be mobilised for Francis’s visit, which is complicated by the 78-year-old pontiff refusing to travel in a bulletproof car and his penchant for plunging into crowds to greet the faithful.

Security forces have analysed recent events overseas, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said in a televised briefing yesterday when asked whether the incidents in France and Australia had prompted a change in preparations.

“Any appropriate measures applicable to the Philippine setting are being incorporated in the security plan,” he said.

The government also has to contend with huge crowds. About six million people are expected to attend Sunday mass in Manila’s Luneta Park on Sunday, Roxas said. President Benigno Aquino led a dress rehearsal on Tuesday evening for Francis’s motorcade from Villamor Airbase in Pasay City to the pope’s temporary home along Taft Avenue in Manila.

“We’ve added security measures not only against terrorism but also to control the crowd,” Roxas said. The government can airlift the pontiff if needed, he said, recalling that in 1995, John Paul II rode a helicopter to and from an event in Manila after a sea of people blocked his motorcade.

On Monday, Aquino appealed for restraint and cooperation during the pope’s visit. He has declared the days during Francis’ visit as special non-working days in Metro Manila.

The pope will meet Aquino at the presidential palace on Friday before mass with religious leaders. On January 17, he’ll travel to typhoon-devastated Tacloban before returning to Manila for the open-air mass the following day.

The government has set up empty spaces around the site of the mass in case of potential stampedes and other emergencies, Roxas said. About 30 video screens will be positioned at the venue, he said.

Thirty walk-through scanners will be set up in the park, and police will use hand-held metal detectors to check baggage, Carmelo Valmoria, who heads the National Capital Region Police Office, told reporters yesterday. Anyone found with pointed objects, guns or other weapons will be detained, said Leonardo Espina, national police officer-in-charge, said at the same briefing.

“The government’s extensive security preparations are warranted in light of assassination attempts during the 1970 and 1995 papal visits,” Eufracia Taylor, Asia analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, said in an email. “Any incident which indicates a failure to adequately protect the pope will be calamitous politically and a huge embarrassment for the government given the international media exposure during the visit.”

— With inputs from agencies