Malacanang asks for public cooperation during Pope Francis’ visit next year

Pope Francis visits the Holy Land. Twitter photo from Vatican Communication.

MANILA — The Palace has started an appeal to the public with the possible inconvenience as a result of the visit of Pope Francis in the Philippines in mid-January next year.

The pope will stay in the country from January 15 to 19, visiting Manila and Tacloban.

In a radio interview Saturday, Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said that the government preparations is focused mostly on ensuring the security for the pope.

“The preparations involved security, and of course, we want the visit of His Holiness to go as planned and without any untoward incident,” Valte told dzRB Radyo Ng Bayan.

“As such, we echo the appeal of the Executive Secretary for patience from our citizens who may be affected by some of the security preparations,” she said.

“We ask you to bear with us and we ask you to… We ask for your understanding because we know that everyone wants the Pope to be safe while he is here in Manila and in Tacloban.

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The Palace official said they are asking for public cooperation to ensure that the pope’s visit to the country will be orderly and peaceful.

The government is also working to ensure the security of officials and leaders who will attend the APEC meeting in the Philippines next year, Valte said.

The first APEC engagement will be the country’s hosting of the informal Senior Officials’ Meeting, she said adding that the national coordinating council of APEC 2015 is actively coordinating with the local government units of Legazpi City and of Albay.

“Maganda naman po ang ating relasyon at pag-coordinate sa kanila, and we know that everyone wants the hosting to be successful,” she said.

With regards to tourists being victimized by robbers in Boracay, Valte said they expect the police to act in addressing these crimes in one of the country’s major tourist destinations.

On Friday, it was reported the some Japanese, Chinese, and Belgian nationals fell victim to thieves in Boracay island.