MANILA — Policemen affiliated with candidates for next year’s midterm elections will be transferred to another area of assignment, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Monday.
“We will consider everything plus yung sobrang affiliation niya doon sa (their excessive affiliation with the) incumbent official or dun sa mga candidates na tatakbo (with the candidates who will run). That is part of our preparations to level the playing field, to be fair to everyone whether you are an incumbent or candidate,” PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde told reporters in a press conference.
As of May, Albayalde have identified 7,926 barangays in 896 municipalities as areas of concern or hotspots.
Most of these, he said, are in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, followed by Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) and 7 (Central Visayas).
“Actually we have already the list of areas of concern, election watchlist of areas natin. What we intend to do here is magkakaroon na tayo ng (we will have a) special operations task group not only during the conduct of elections but as early as now para ma-address itong mga(to address these) election issues lalo na yung mga (especially) harassment, violent incidents especially mga killings like what happened in La Union,” he noted.
“We will be appointing directors from Directorate Integrated Police Operations (DIPO) to supervise the regions particularly the provinces under their jurisdiction na i-supervise nilang mabuti pagdating naman sa (that they must supervise closely in terms of) election-related concerns,” he added.
On Thursday, Albayalde led the Command Conference at PNP headquarters at Camp Crame, Quezon City, which was attended by various police units — including Command Group, Directorial Staff, Regional Directors and Directors of National Support Units.
The preparations are aimed at securing the five-month election period from January 13 to June 12, 2019.
“I have directed anew all Police Regional Offices and National Support Units to go ‘hammer and tongs’ in aggressive interdiction operations against private armed groups, gun-for-hire syndicates and its criminal support systems, that historically mar the peaceful holding of credible and fair elections,” the PNP Chief added.
“I am optimistic that with all security measures in place, we can look forward to peaceful and fair elections in 2019,” he said. (Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)
