Senate of the Philippines. Photo courtesy of PNA.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said security around the Senate would be strengthened after Senate President Pro Tempore Sherwin Gatchalian cited information on possible threats against the chamber.
Remulla said threats were always part of the security landscape, but he confirmed that authorities were taking steps to reinforce police presence in the Senate area.
He said June 12 was being treated as a critical date, prompting the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Philippine National Police to heighten preparations.
Gatchalian earlier said in a radio interview that the Senate had received information, including from the National Bureau of Investigation, about threats that could possibly occur in the chamber.
The warning came as political tensions continued in the Senate following the June 3 leadership shakeup, when Gatchalian was elected Senate president pro tempore after a two-day impasse.
That standoff was triggered by the refusal of the bloc of then Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano to attend plenary session in protest of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s arrest on plunder charges linked to the flood control scandal.
The PNP had earlier confirmed that Remulla met with some police officials last week amid reports that groups identified with the Duterte family were supposedly planning to storm Malacañang during the Independence Day celebration.
Remulla said the information remained raw intelligence, but authorities were monitoring destabilizing groups, while the National Capital Region Police Office said it was on heightened awareness and would defer to Senate security and higher offices on the reported threat.
