NCRPO on heightened alert until next month

MANILA, Philippines — The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) announced yesterday that it will extend its heightened alert status until next month.

NCRPO director Maj. Gen. Edgar Alan Okubo said the alert status would not be lifted until the third week of May in preparation for other holidays.

“The deployment we are doing now will continue until the second week of May because there are a lot of holidays coming up, including May 1, which is a big Labor Day,” Okubo said in an interview aired over dzBB.

Metro Manila police were placed under heightened alert during the Holy Week, under which only a limited number of personnel were allowed to take holidays.

During the Holy Week, police in Metro Manila were on duty securing churches, transportation hubs, shopping malls and other places of convergence.

With the extension, police will continue securing public spaces.

The NCRPO will also intensify patrols to prevent criminal activities such as burglary of houses whose owners may be in the provinces for vacation.

Meanwhile, Okubo said there were no notable incidents during the Holy Week break, which he declared as relatively peaceful.