MANILA, Philippines – About 3 months before the expected visit of Pope Francis to the Philippines, President Benigno Aquino III formed a national organizing committee to ensure the smooth flow of his visit.

In a memorandum released Friday, October 3, Aquino called for the creation of the Papal Visit 2015-National Organizing Committee (PV-NOC) to coordinate preparations. The Committee is chaired by Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr and vice-chaired by Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario.

Other members include:

• Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin
• Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II
• Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson
• Health Secretary Enrique Ona
• Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya
• Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr
• Presidential Communications Operations Office
• Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Lt Gen Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr 
• Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino

On Wednesday, Aquino also announced that the Filipino peacekeepers, who successfully escaped a standoff with Syrian rebels in the Golan Heights, have been tasked to secure the Pope.

“As instructed by President Aquino, all heads of the different government departments, local governments as well as the private sectors are encouraged to participate and coordinate all efforts to make sure that the visit of His Holiness in our country next year will be well organized and peaceful,” Ochoa said in a statement.

Among the duties of the committee are ensuring cooperation between public and private sectors, particularly with the central committee of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP); peace and order; and traffic management.

The memorandum, effective immediately, also established two local executive committees – one in Manila and another in Leyte – where the Pope is expected to visit. The local committees will “serve as the on-site full-time, day-to-day operations arms of the PV-NOC,” said the statement.

Pope Francis will be making a stop in Leyte to visit disaster-hit victims. His visit comes a year after Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) killed more than 6,000 people, mostly in Tacloban City in Eastern Visayas. 

This will mark the first time in 3 decades – only the second time ever – for a pope to go beyond the Philippine capital, Manila, as the first Latin American pontiff vows to reach out to the world’s “peripheries.” (READ: Pope chooses Visayas as core of Philippine trip)

The Pope is expected to visit the Philippines on January 15 to 19, 2015. His trip will be the first by a Pope since Pope John Paul II’s visit in 1995. – Rappler.com