ALL unit and area commanders of the Philippine National Police (PNP) were ordered to start security preparation this early to ensure the peaceful, honest and orderly conduct of the elections in May next year.
PNP Chief Police General Guillermo Eleazar explained that early security preparations were found to be effective in preventing election violence and other activities that would compromise the integrity of the national and local elections.
“As talks about the elections next year begin to heat up, I have already instructed our area commanders to start preparations early to ensure peaceful and orderly elections in our country,” said PGen. Eleazar.
“Aside from preparing early, police personnel should also focus on the monitoring and accounting not only about private armed groups but also loose firearms that may used for scare tactics and sabotage to influence the outcome of election results,” he added.
With the order, the PNP intelligence community and area commanders are expected to monitor and conduct review on the presence of firearms with expired license and other loose firearms in their respective areas of responsibility.
The Chief PNP also wants to give focus on the presence of armed groups based on the data from the previous elections.
PGen Eleazar said that they will also start coordinating with the Armed Forces of the Philippines for election security in areas with high presence of armed groups, especially the CPP-NPA-NDF.
The CPP-NPA-NDF has been accused of extorting huge sums of money in exchange for access in areas where they usually operate. The sum of money is collected from politicians through permit to campaign, which also serves assurance that candidates will not be harassed.
“We have to make sure that they would be denied of this illegal activity so it is really important that we start early to study and anticipate any threat to the elections next year,” said PGen Eleazar.
The Chief PNP earlier ordered commanders to help secure the voters registration of the Commission on Elections, especially when the poll body announced that it would extend the registration hours to 7 p.m. starting August 23.