Mandaluyong city: Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla on Monday took full responsibility for the Mandaluyong City incident where an Addition Hills resident was ticketed for being shirtless while mixing cement outside his home. "It was my fault that I did not give clearer instructions on how to do the Safer Cities initiative," Remulla said, referring to stricter enforcement of local ordinances that he ordered.

According to Philippines News Agency, at a press briefing, Remulla said he will "make amends" to the affected person and plans to apologize in person. "I will visit him to personally apologize and I assure him that we will correct this," he said. Remulla added that the initiative will continue and expand. "Nevertheless, the 'Safer Cities' initiative has begun and it will progress. It will progress to other forms of making the city safer which I will announce in the next few weeks as we perfect this," he said.

The incident was discussed at a command conference at Camp Crame led by Remulla and PNP chief Gen. Joseon on Monday. It also led to the suspension of the initiative's implementation in Manila. Remulla said the program will proceed while authorities assess its impact on peace and order, adding results will be reviewed at the end of April. "We will make a study pagdating ng katapusan ng Abril. Titignan po namin ang focus crimes of April 2025, 2024, compared sa 2026 (We will do a study at the end of April. We will compare numbers for April 2025, 2024, and 2026)," he said. Focus crimes include murder, homicide, rape, physical injury, carnapping, and theft.

Nearly 6,000 people in Metro Manila have been apprehended for going topless since the initiative began on April 6, according to the Department of the Interior and Local Government. More than 60,000 people, meanwhile, were cited for various other violations, mostly for drinking and smoking in public places.