8,000 cops to secure Calabarzon polls

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines – More than 8,000 police officers will be deployed in polling centers in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas Rizal and Quezon) to ensure peaceful and orderly elections.

The number comprised 80 percent of the 11,716 officers of the regional police, who will be dispatched along with members of volunteer groups and police-trainees, according to Chief Superintendent Roland Santos, officer-in-charge of the Calabarzon police.

Santos said all systems and procedures, including the final instruction for the officers from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) are ready for the May 9 polls.

He said additional police officers would be sent to Batangas during and after the elections due to intense political rivalry and the violence that recently occurred in the cities of Sto. Tomas and Tanauan, and the towns of Mataas na Kahoy and Bauan.

No officer will be allowed to take a leave of absence during the elections and those who are serving as escorts of some individuals, personalities and politicians will be recalled, Santos said.

Meanwhile, in Bulacan, local poll, police and military officials attended yesterday the send-off ceremony for the additional law enforcers who would help secure the elections in the province.

According to Senior Superintendent Romeo Caramat Jr., Bulacan police officer-in-charge, more than 300 additional police officers will be deployed in different towns and cities.

The figure brings to 1,606 the total number of officers that have been tasked to secure the polling centers.

Two cities and four towns in Bulacan are under the Comelec watchlist for having history of intense political rivalry.

These are the cities of Meycauayan and San Jose del Monte and the towns of Doña Remedios-Trinidad, Balagtas, Baliuag and San Ildefonso.

Lt. Col. Eugenio Julio Osias IV, chief of the Army’s 48th Infantry Batallion, said at least 100 soldiers have been deployed to help the police secure the elections in the province. – With Ramon Efren Lazaro