By Annabel Consuelo Petinglay/PNA
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique — The Police Regional Office 6 (Western Visayas) will deploy around 700 policemen to Antique days before the May 13 polls to ensure a peaceful and fair election in the province.
Antique Provincial Police Office (APPO) Deputy Director for Operations, Lt. Col. Norby Escobar, said in an interview Wednesday that the policemen will augment the police personnel of the APPO assigned in the 18 municipalities of the province.
“We expect the 700 police personnel from the Police Regional Office 6 to arrive in Antique 10 days before the May 13 election,” Escobar said.
He said the augmentation force will also help secure the vote counting machines (VCMs) to be delivered, especially to the hinterland areas.
Meanwhile, Escobar is reminding the political candidates not to give in to demands of the New People’s Army (NPA) now that the local election campaign has started.
“Political candidates should not give money to the NPA for their permit to campaign or permit to win,” Escobar said to remind them as they might have received extortion letters from the communist rebels.
He said they had been informed by the PRO-6 that there are one or two political candidates from Antique who have been reported to have received such a letter.
“Please cooperate with the police by giving us information once you (political candidates) get extortion letters,” Escobar said.
He said the financial support the political candidates will give to the NPAs could be used to sow havoc in the communities.
Escobar added that this problem on the NPA extortion letters being sent out to candidates is actually a nationwide concern confronting the police.
