'PAPAL VISIT' Advisory: PASAY RED ALERT STARTING JANUARY 14

MANILA, Philippines - The Pasay City local government has announced RED ALERT (Task Force VIP Gears for Final Local Deployment And Support To Papal Visit) starting January 14.

As Pasay City is Pope Francis’ first and final stop during his five-day visit to the Philippines, the “Travel City” places Task Force VIP’s (Viva Il Papa) on red alert starting January 14 (Wednesday) as it gears for its final deployment and support to the National Government during the “event of the decade”.

Pasay City Mayor Antonino Calixto today said that “Pasay City is on Red Alert starting January 14. Today, we are finalizing our preparation on the local level in support of the country’s mission to make this year’s historic Papal Visit successful.”

                                                                                                    

The Southern Police District has already briefed the 19 Barangays of Pasay along the Papal route regarding route segmentation. Meanwhile, the DILG met with officials of the same Barangays to determine their tasks as providers of secondary “force multipliers” for crowd control, among others.

Pasay City Administrator and Task Force VIP Over-all Coordinator Atty. Dennis Acorda said that “intensified coordination is being conducted by all members of the Task Force and their respective personnel with National Government Agencies This is to ensure that the Pope’s Visit to Pasay will be the most successful one.”

The Pasay City Rescue Team’s tasking from the Office of Civil Defense consists of two rescue teams and an ambulance at the Domestic Road/MIA Road intersection, and, two ambulances at the Andrews Avenue/Tramo intersection.

The Pasay Rescue Team will be on full two shifting 24-hour alert. Each rescue team is composed of five responders each ambulance.

At the same time, the Pasay Recue will strategically position one ambulance at the Villamor Airbase Airport where Pope Francis’ plane is expected to land.

Four Reaction Areas will also be set up along Roxas Boulevard: Cuneta Avenue; the San Juan de Dios Hospital; the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) at the corner of Libertad, and, in Lourdes street after Buendia before Vito Cruz.

Each reaction areas will be composed of personnel from the Pasay City Hall; the Pasay City Environment and Natural Resources Office for cleanliness of the areas; the Pasay Traffic Management Office for accessible routes after Roxas Blvd. have been closed to traffic; the Health Department for immediate medical attention; the Public Order and Safety Office for crowd control, and, the City Engineering Office for anything that requires immediate movement, construction and the like.

During the Pope’s Meeting with the Families at the Mall of Asia Arena on Day 2, the Pasay Rescue Team will preposition two ambulances per four Stations along the EDSA Extension together with personnel from the Department of Health (DOH) and the National Red Cross. Other nearby LGU’s will also preposition ambulances along Edsa Extension.

You may check the official itinerary of the Pope here.