There will be no protests on Monday's State of the Nation Address ( SONA) by President Rodrigo Duterte, the chief of the National Capitol Region Police Office (NCRPO) said Friday.

In a press briefing, Police Major General Debold Sinas cited a Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) memorandum reminding local government officials that under Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) resolution 57, mass gatherings are prohibited.

With this, Sinas said they may change their SONA preparation.

“There might be changes because new guidelines have been issued by the IATF. We will talk to the stakeholders about the new issued directive of the IATF. We just received this yesterday,” he said.

According to their initial plan, rallyists will be allowed to conduct their protest along Commonwealth Avenue near the office of the Commission of Human Rights (CHR) from 10am to 12 noon.

A platform was also supposed to be installed in the area and markers will be placed for the rallyists, who will be wearing face masks, to observe social distancing.

“In our initial dialogue, we have agreed to that but we have to talk to them because of a new directive issued from the chief executive of DILG,” Sinas said.

“So we will present this to our partners…We will be appealing to our partners that there are changes based on the guidelines of SILG (Eduardo Año),” he added.

Sinas said there is a possibility the protesters can conduct their activity inside the University of the Philippines (UP).

“UP has their own set-up so we will just be negotiating with their administration… the guidance (and) instruction of chief PNP (Philippine National Police General Archie Francisco Gamboa) (is) as long as you don’t violate ( laws) and don’t get out of the UP compound, that’s okay with us,” Sinas said.

Meanwhile, in a radio interview, Quezon City Police District (QCPD) chief Brig. General Ronnie Montejo assured that the sudden change is due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) threat not because of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.

“It is not (related to the Anti-Terrorism Act)… we are just really looking at the health situation,” he said.

Montejo said they are scheduled to meet the militant leaders on Friday afternoon and Saturday.

In a statement, the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) slammed the DILG memorandum.

KMU said the organisers of the #SONAGKAISA Protest had an agreement with the Quezon City Police Department to conduct the rally planned in Commonwealth Avenue, including regulations on safety and health protocols.

“They are just using the pandemic as an excuse but what they want is to implement martial law. They are afraid of the wrath of the people. They are not stopping the spread of COVID-19, but the mass protest of people,” KMU said.

KMU pointed out that the protest ban is an affront to freedom of speech and assembly as provided in the Constitution.

It said if the government were really concerned about the spread of the COVID-19, it should have implemented mass testing and treat the sick. Ella Dionisio/DMS