Opening of classes for the school year 2019- 2020 went smoothly, according to Philippine National Police ( PNP) General Oscar Albayalde said on Monday.

"Everything is going smoothly. All our police are in their respective places of deployment and as of this time, we don't received any incident report," Albayalde said in a press briefing in Camp Crame.

According to the Department of Education, they are expecting around 27.2 million students this school year.

"I have ordered all regional directors to deploy enough police forces fielding a total of 149,484 PNP personnel and force multipliers for the security and safety of schools and students nationwide," he said.

Albayalde said the increase in deployment of previously announced 120,00 police officers is because of the inclusion of stakeholders and force multiplier like barangay tanod and volunteers.

Police officers will remain in their posst until the opening of classes settles for the whole week until early next week.

"All the other police operations will continue especially our campaign against illegal drugs," the PNP chief said.

"Even as we are busy with opening of classes, we assure the public that the PNP is committed to continue providing security coverage for public safety services, and implement various crime prevention operations, focusing on the Enhanced Managing Police Operations Strategy and the campaign against illegal drugs to maintain peace and order in our communities," he said.

For cases involving illegal drugs they recorded in schools last school year, Albayalde said they coordinated with different principals to prevent the incident from happening.

"We need to coordinate with school administration especially on their security management," he said citing incident of a Grade school student caught with marijuana.

"We only found out these incidents because their schoolmates are telling us but without it, I think it will be hard for us," he added.

Albayalde said these are only isolated cases.

The PNP chief said they have not received any threat to the security of different schools nationwide.

"We appeal to the public to remain vigilant and alert against criminal elements that may take advantage due to influx of students and parents to schools and public places," he said.

"Do not hesitate to call the attention of the authorities, specially our deployed PNP personnel for appropriate assistance," he added. Ella Dionisio/DMS