THE Philippine National Police (PNP) said that it is continuously adopting measures to ensure a peaceful and honest presidential and local elections next year.
“We have made successful and continuous operations in many parts of the country that resulted in the arrest of gun-runners, members of Private Armed Groups and confiscated several firearms that can be used to cheat and sabotage next year’s elections,” explains PNP Chief PGen Guillermo Eleazar.
“Our intelligence build up and monitoring of various places in the country, particularly those with history of election violence, is without letup. Our target here are the private armed groups and the firearms they may use to conduct violent activities,” he added.
The PNP, PGen. Eleazar said, continues to closely coordinate with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and other agencies with regard to election security that includes identification of election hot spots and individuals and groups that may be tapped as goons of erring politicians.
He said that since coordination and interoperability with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP_ and other law enforcement agencies have been proven effective in the campaign against illegal drugs, the same level of cooperation will be used among concerned government agencies for election security.
The PNP and the AFP are usually the agencies tapped by the Comelec to help maintain peace and order during election period.
“The PNP believes that with early preparation for next year’s elections, we assure the public that individuals and groups won’t have room to operate if they want to sabotage next year’s elections for their own interests,” said PGen Eleazar.
“We have further strengthened this objective by coordinating with the AFP and other law-enforcement agencies because in the end, the PNP will be one of those who will be answerable to the people if we are unable to protect their voices in choosing the nation’s next leader,” he added.