Director General Oscar Albayalde, chief of the Philippine National Police (Photo from the PNP)
MANILA, Philippines – Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde on Monday directed his subordinates to take down campaign materials for the May elections on government properties.
Albayalde ordered all regional police directors to “take down all election campaign materials in government offices and facilities such as billboards, tarpaulins, posters, steamers, banners, and similar campaign materials, to add more teeth to the enforcement of provisions of Comelec (Commission on Elections) Resolution No. 10488.”
“The PNP is duty bound to ensure a level playing field for honest, orderly and peaceful elections in May as an apolitical and non-partisan deputized agency of the Commission on Elections.”
“To be more emphatic about the strictly apolitical stand of the PNP, I am serving notice to all police personnel to remain steadfast along this command policy with due regard to existing rules and regulations that prohibit personnel from engaging in partisan political activity,” he stressed.
The PNP will deploy a total of 181,775 police officers for public safety and general law enforcement duties on election day.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año also directed local government units to take down campaign materials on all government properties.
He also directed the public to report violations to the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Commission on Elections. / gsg