The Philippine National Police (PNP) said Monday that the Labor Day rallies were “relatively peaceful”.

“So far, based on our monitoring since this morning it has been relatively peaceful, and the rallies and public assemblies of our countrymen who wanted to express their grievances were conducted smoothly,” PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said at a press conference.

Fajardo said they have not received any reports of threats but they will continue to monitor the situation.

According to Fajardo, PNP chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda had directed the police to deal with the protesters calmly and with maximum tolerance.

Most protesters finished their activities in the afternoon, she said.

“We were able to monitor some continuing protests, particularly in the area of Region 4-A but at around 10 am or 11 am, they self-dispersed and so far it’s been peaceful,” Fajardo said.

“Here in Manila they also had a march and Mendiola became a rallying point. We were not able to record any untoward incident and we were able to manage the traffic well. We are grateful to the protesters who requested us to allow them to hold a rally and we permitted them. So far, we have been able to monitor a few rallies but most of the protesters had finished their activities in the afternoon,” she added. Jaspearl Tan/DMS