There is exactly 637 guests who attended the Inauguration Rites of the 16th President of the Republic the Philippines. They are the only ones who were given invitation, and the only one who witnessed the ceremony live. But do you ever wonder how the security was maintained by the Presidential Security Group amid the big group? Well, here’s how they did it.
The PSG had set-up three layers of security. The guests was shuttled from the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City to the Malacañang Palace in Manila. There were around 15 buses who shuttled them before the start of the Inauguration which is 10am. The first layer of security checked the invitations of the guests. The second was assigned to verify the vehicle passes while the third was stationed at the entrance of the PICC tent.
There were high security as well during the breakfast event for the guests but media wasn’t allowed to join and was held outside the gate. Most of the guests were residents of Davao City or personal friends of the President. Among of them is retired Army General Abraham Bagasin who served as Duterte’s head of security in Northern Luzon during the campaign. He came all the way from Cagayan but was pleased to have personally witness the ceremony saying “Personally, masaya ako na nabigyan ng pagkakataon, ina-idolize ko s’ya, tiwala ako sa kanya,”
There was one guest, however, who wasn’t permitted to enter the venue because Joseph Lim’s invitation bore the name of his son David who was a close friend of Duterte. There were guests who arrived in luxury cars and there were also those who arrived in taxis.
Martin Adanar, Communication Secretary, shared that there were 1000 people placed under the waitlist, in case somebody back out from the initial guest list.
Source: ABS-CBN
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