Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Police Gen. Guillermo Eleazar ordered on Thursday (Aug. 25) all unit and area commanders to start security preparations for the peaceful, honest, and orderly conduct of the elections in May next year.
Eleazar explained that early security preparations were found to be effective in preventing election violence and other activities that would compromise the integrity of the national and local elections.
“Kasabay ng mainit na usapan sa eleksyon sa susunod na taon, inatasan ko na ang lahat ng ating area commanders na umpisahan na ang paghahanda upang matiyak ang malinis at maayos na halalan sa ating bansa,” Eleazar said.
“Kasama sa paghahanda na dapat tutukan ng ating mga kapulisan ay ang monitoring at accounting, hindi lamang ng mga private armed groups kung hindi pati na rin ang mga loose firearms na maaring gamitin sa pananakot at pagsabotahe upang impluwensyahan ang resulta ng halalan,” he added.
With the order, the PNP intelligence community and area commanders are expected to monitor and conduct a review on the presence of firearms with expired licenses and other loose firearms in their respective areas of responsibility.
The PNP chief also wants to give focus on the presence of armed groups, based on data from previous elections.
Eleazar said they will also start coordinating with the Armed Forces of the Philippines for election security in areas with high presence of armed groups, especially the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
The CPP-NPA-NDF has been accused of extorting huge sums of money in exchange for access to areas where they usually operate. The money collected from politicians through permits to campaign also serves as assurance that candidates will not be harassed.
“We have to make sure that they would be denied this illegal activity, so it is really important that we start early to study and anticipate any threat to the elections next year,” Eleazar said.
The PNP chief earlier ordered commanders to help secure the voters’ registration of the Commission on Elections, especially when the poll body announced that it would extend the registration hours to 7:00 p.m. starting Aug. 23. (PNP-PIO) – jlo
