400,000 cops on standby for barangay, SK poll duties — Comelec

MANILA, Philippines — Around 400,000 trained police officers will be on standby for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections in October should some public school teacher be unavailable for election day duty, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Wednesday.  

“Just in case lang na may isang lugar na hindi makapag lingkod ang electoral board members o ating mga guro ay meron kaming pang substitute sa kanila yan ay mga PNP personnel […] Mga 400,000 ang hina-handle natin na PNP personnel yun naman ay backup lang,” Comelec chairman George Garcia said in a press conference on Wednesday. 

(In case teachers are not available in a certain area, PNP personnel can replace them.  We have about 400,000 police officers, just in case.)

Garcia, they are monitoring three areas where teachers may become unavailable — a town in the southern part of Maguindanao and two towns in the northern part of the same province

Garcia shared that in the 2022 elections, some teachers in Cotabato City who opted out election duties out of confusion and fear were replaced by PNP personnel in 175 clustered precincts.

“Katulad ng ginawa namin nung 2022 sa Cotabato City na kung saan ang naglilingkod ay PNP personnel na duly certified by the DOST (Department of Science and Technology),” he said.

(In the 2022 elections in Cotabato City, DOST-certified PNP personnel were tapped for poll duties.)

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