Region 12 cops report violence-free polls in Soccksargen

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Police units in Soccksargen have not recorded any major election-related violence in Monday’s local and national mid-term elections.

Brig. Gen. Eliseo Tam Rasco, regional director of the Police Regional Office (PRO)-12, said the conduct of the polls turned out smooth, orderly and peaceful in all four provinces and four cities of the region.

He said there were a few minor setbacks that occurred in some localities, among them the malfunctioning Vote Counting Machines, but contingencies were immediately put in place.

“Fortunately, there were no significant incidents reported from lower units that could disrupt the peaceful conduct of the elections,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Rasco credited the “violence-free” elections in the area to their enhanced security measures, specifically the maintenance of full alert status and maximum deployment of personnel.

On Monday, he said Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa, the Philippine National Police deputy chief for operations, personally supervised the strict implementation of safety and security measures in parts of the region.

PRO-12 had deployed a total of 6,212 personnel from the provincial, city and police units and 312 from its national administrative and operational support units for the Monday polls.

They were augmented by 2,486 troopers from Army units that were deployed along with police teams in 1,392 polling centers and 15,728 polling precincts.

Citing reports from the Regional Election Monitoring Action Center, Rasco said at least 26 persons were arrested while one was still at large for violating the ban on selling and consumption of alcoholic products in line with the elections.

Since the start of the election period last Jan. 13, he said a total of 118 assorted firearms have been recovered and 136 persons were arrested for violating the firearms ban.

The firearms were seized in various police operations like checkpoints and the serving of search and arrest warrants, he said.

Rasco said 11 persons were arrested as of 6:30 p.m. Monday while one was still at-large in line with their operations against vote-buying.

Cash amounting to PHP205,260, one Honda motorcycle and 12 sacks of rice were recovered from the suspects, he said.

“Overall, the election was yet another successful event (for the PRO-12) based on our mandate of ensuring the safety and security of our people and local communities,” he added.