SAN JOSE De BUENAVISTA, Antique — Sixty cops assigned in 18 municipalities of this province were temporarily relieved from their current assignments for being related to several bets for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataaan (SK) elections.
Antique Provincial Police Office (APPO) Deputy Director for Operations Supt. Norby Escobar on Thursday said that their relief, which took effect May 7, was part of ensuring safe, fair and orderly elections.
“The police personnel, however, are just being transferred to adjacent municipalities and would be returned to their original assignments after the elections,” he said.
Escobar said the relief order would be until only May 21. They were assigned in nearby towns also for their convenience.
Meanwhile, Escobar said that they have not registered any election related incident or complaints on solicitation letters or permit to win/permit to campaign by the New People’s Army-Communist Party of the Philippines.
“We also have not received complaint about vote-buying activities of candidates,” he said.
APPO will be deploying 500 to 600 personnel with augmentation force from the Police Regional Office 6 on the day of the elections, he said.
“We will have more than enough police personnel to cover the voting centers,” he said.
Likewise, the APPO will also set up police assistance desks 50 meters away from the schools that would be used as voting center.
“There will be a minimum of two police personnel who will be assigned in each police assistance desk,” he said.
The police assistance desks will be set up to provide information to voters and there to safeguard the election process. (Annabel Consuelo Petinglay/PNA)
