PNP goes hi-tech to monitor polls

MANILA, Philippines - Aided by modern technology like cellphones and social media, the Philippine National Police (PNP) will go hi-tech to monitor the situation nationwide during the elections on Monday.

PNP chief Director General Ricardo Marquez urged the 160,000-strong police force to show their commitment to secure the May 9 polls as the police launched their national election monitoring and action center (NEMAC) at Camp Crame, Quezon City.

“I told our personnel the importance of their commitment, because we are playing a very important role. Let us guard the people’s vote well in this election,” Marquez told reporters.

Through the NEMAC, the PNP National Operation Center (NOC) has started monitoring the security situation 24/7 in preparation for the May 9 presidential and national polls.

Chief Supt. Nestor Bergonia, head of PNP-NOC, said the police would monitor 36,788 polling precincts nationwide especially before, during and after the election process.

“We are using available technology. We are using cellphones, we can also use radios, the Internet and social media. We can always monitor and respond. We will do our best to monitor and respond to all calls,” said Bergonia.

Aside from NEMAC, Bergonia said regional, provincial and city police offices would also have their respective REMACs, PEMACs and CEMACs. “We can call them, we can communicate with them.”

He added: “We will have information directly from the ground, from the field, we have information directly from the provincial, city and regional headquarters and we can also ask our community to report directly to us. So we can take action on any concern,” he added.

APEC-like operation

Bergonia explained the NEMAC operations would be similar to the monitoring action center set up during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit last November.

“This is an APEC standard command center. We need to monitor what are happening on the ground and our goal is to monitor and take action in real time. Real time meaning we give instructions to our commanders on the ground to report any incident, within one hour, for us to take action,” he added.

He said the PNP is actually using the system in the anti-crime Operation Lambat Sibat that includes crime mapping.

“We converted that for election purposes only,” he added.

The 19,800 police and military personnel would secure the May elections in Metro Manila until the proclamation of the winning candidates, a police official said yesterday.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Joel Pagdilao said the police and military contingent would not only secure the 729 polling places in Metro Manila but also perform other jobs related to the May 9 elections.

The NCRPO was placed on full alert starting Monday and Pagdilao downloaded 2,700 police and military personnel to the five police districts in Metro Manila as augmentation forces.

The police and military personnel were dispatched to their assigned polling precincts since last Wednesday.

As their pre-election activities, the police and military contingent would be escorting vote-counting machines (VCMs) during their delivery to the polling precincts, and secure them until their final testing.

Aside from securing the polling precincts on election day, the police and military contingent would also impose security measures during the distribution of election paraphernalia from treasurer’s office to the polling centers by the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs).

Ensure clean mitings

The environmental group EcoWaste Coalition appealed to various political parties that are gearing up for respective mitings de avance on May 7, the end of the official campaign period, to compel their supporters to clean their trash and prevent littering in the rally venues. 

EcoWaste coordinator Aileen Lucero called out rally organizers to, for a change, wrap up their campaign in an environmentally caring manner.

”It’s OK for your supporters to come in full force, but please ask everyone to mind their trash and to keep rally sites litter-free,” she said.

Lucero said the political parties should not turn May 7 into a “Black Saturday for Mother Earth” once the litter from their rallies are left behind in the streets and parks that are turned into open dumps.

“In most cases, the responsibility of clearing rally sites of garbage falls on overworked and underpaid street sweepers and waste haulers,” said Lucero.

The EcoWaste Coalition said that it is possible to assemble crowds without creating horrendous trash. With Rhodina Villanueva