By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA
MANILA — The Philippine National Police (PNP) will implement the same security template for the second Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) plebiscite on February 6.
The newly-appointed PNP spokesperson, Senior Supt. Bernard Banac, made the statement Tuesday as police forces remain on high alert in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Cotabato and Isabela, where votes in Monday’s BOL plebiscite are being canvassed.
Banac said a total of 3,209 police officers will be deployed to six municipalities of Lanao del Norte and 39 barangays in North Cotabato.
He said security measures for the plebiscite will serve as a “dry run“ for the security operations for the May 2019 mid-term elections.
As of 8 a.m. Tuesday, election returns from 8,846 precincts, or 66.44 percent of all 13,315 precincts, have been accounted for by election officials, with Lanao del Sur and Isabela City being among the earliest to achieve a 100-percent completion of the return process, Banac said, citing reports from the National Operations Center.
He said 78 PNP personnel served as members of the Plebiscite Commission in Cotabato City, where 91.18 percent of election returns have been accounted for as of Tuesday morning.
Reports reaching the PNP National Headquarters indicated that there was no failure of election in any of the 13,315 polling precincts in these areas and no election-related incident was recorded.
Banac said all 6,698 police personnel deployed in these areas were under strict instructions to remain in their posts until properly relieved or redeployed elsewhere, and will continue to provide security and police assistance to election activities.
