Cops ready for poll duties

CEBU, Philippines — It’s all set for the May 13 elections as far as security preparations are concern, according to the police.

Police Captain Arieza Otida, information officer of Cebu City Police Office, said the police are ready to secure the elections. She said the CCPO is even capable of providing augmentation personnel to other police offices.

“There will be no augmentation from other units, however, kita pa ang nihatag sa lain unit we will be deploying personnel from our office to other units,” Otida said.

She said that checkpoints will continue 24/7. She asked the public not to fear police checkpoints since it is only procedural to ensure safe and peaceful conduct of the elections.

Cebu Provincial Police Office director Police Col. Manuel Abrugena said they are also ready for the elections.

Abrugena said more than 2,000 personnel from CPPO will be distributed across the Central Visayas to augment the local police forces. He said there will also be more than 5,000 personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and civilian auxiliary forces that will help the police in securing the elections.

“We will be deploying 2000 plus na pulis, to secure all polling precincts,” he said.

Abrugena said that each polling center will have two policemen as security. 

“We are prepared and we are ready for the elections. We will maximize the police visibility and continue with the checkpoints as mandated by COMELEC and higher headquarters,” he said.

Abrugena said the number of hotspots in the region remain at 54. Six towns are classified as red, 18 are orange, 30 are yellow, and 78 are considered green.

A color-coding system was implemented by the Commission on Elections to classify the degree of election-related concerns.

Green means there is no cause for immediate concern in the area, yellow is meant for provinces with election related violence and orange for those with presence of armed or rebel groups while red for critical areas.—  FPL (FREEMAN)