No profiling of protesters, says PNP

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Friday said its organization did not give any instructions to profile the protesters who attended the rally at the office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday.

In a statement, the PNP said the policemen were deployed to the area to ensure security during the activity of the protesters.

“The PNP has not given any directive to profile any personalities,” the PNP said.

“The main duty of the PNP personnel deployed in these protest rallies is to ensure that the entire activity is peaceful and will not resort to violence or any untoward incident.”

According to the PNP, its personnel usually draft situationer report that includes the estimated number of participants and the overall assessment of the activity. The report will be used as basis in planning for deployment in similar events.

“We assure everyone that the PNP will impose maximum tolerance in these protest rallies. We respect the people’s right to voice out their opinions in assemblies or gatherings but we will truly appreciate if it will be done in a peaceful manner,” it said.

A day after the May 9 national and local elections, groups from the youth and labor sectors gathered in front of the Comelec main office in Intramuros, Manila to protest the results.

The groups were opposed to the looming victory of Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in the presidential race.

Marcos Jr. leads with 31,104,175 votes based on partial and unofficial count from the Comelec Transparency Media Server with 98.35% of election returns already processed as of 9:17 a.m. on Friday. —Joviland Rita/KBK, GMA News