By John Rey Saavedra | Philippine News Agency
CEBU CITY — The Central Command (Centcom) on Thursday said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Visayas is ready for Monday’s election and are fully committed to ensuring a peaceful and orderly balloting.
Lt. Gen. Noel S. Clement, commander of Centcom that has jurisdiction over the three regions in the Visayas, said the military will “vigorously impose its mandates in accordance with the directive from the Commander-in-Chief, President Rodrigo Duterte, for a clean democratic process in installing the next elective officials.”
Clement said Centcom operationally controls the two Philippine Army units in the Visayas — the 3rd Infantry (Spearhead) Division in Jamindan, Capiz and the 8th Infantry (Storm Troopers) Division in Catbalogan, Samar. Each of the Division oversees three Infantry Brigades spread all throughout their respective jurisdiction, and each brigade supervises three infantry battalions.
Clement said the AFP in the Visayas is mandated to render full support to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in ensuring a clean conduct of election at the same time will continue to live up to their mandate of securing the land.
“We support the Comelec and PNP (Philippine National Police) in this coming midterm elections. The commanders on the ground will continue to assess the situation in their respective areas of operations, and we will continue the conduct of security operations while election is ongoing,” Clement said in a message sent to the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
The Task Force Cebu has deployed troops to augment existing police personnel in areas in Cebu listed as hot spots, its head, Col. Noel Baluyan, said. Baluyan is concurrently the deputy commander of the 302nd Infantry (Achiever) Brigade based in Carmen, Bohol.
Lawyer Jerome Brillantes, supervisor of Comelec-Cebu, said in a radio interview that the existing PNP security forces in the violence-hit town of San Fernando in southern Cebu have been augmented with squads from Task Force Cebu.
He said soldiers will also be assisting the police in securing the election in this city, amid reports on armed men harassing residents and village officials in the mountain barangays claiming to be supporters of certain candidates.
Meanwhile, Clement commended the troops for participating in the local absentee voting (LAV) held in different military units in the Visayas last April 29.
He said over 2,500 military personnel in the Visayas participated in the local absentee voting, 44 are from the Centcom headquarters.
Clement said the purpose of allowing soldiers to vote early was to give them the opportunity to exercise their constitutional right of suffrage in advance as these troops are part of the personnel to be deputized by the Comelec to render election duties in the different polling places in the Visayas on Monday.
