MANILA, Philippines — Before the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) take place, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) already deployed personnel to maintain peace and order within communities.
According to National Barangay Operations Office Assistant Director Atty. Izza Marie Lurio, the department is conducting monitoring activities for the election through its field officers.
“Nagsasagawa rin po ang DILG ng monitoring activities kaugnay naman po sa election – violation of election laws or election-related critical incidents — kung saan ang ating mga DILG field officers ay inatasan na agad na i-report sa iba’t-ibang ahensya ang mga critical incidents report,” she said in the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City.
(The DILG is conducting monitoring activities related to violation of election laws or election-related critical incidents where DILG field officers are tasked to report critical incidents in different agencies.)
Lurio said the department reports the shooting incidents, harassment, and political killings to the Philippine National Police (PNP).
She added that they are also in charge of the personnel to be deployed to maintain peace and security during the BSKE.
“Recently, nagsagawa din po ang DILG ng webinar wherein kinapacitate po natin ang ating mga barangay tanods and informed them kung ano nga ba ang roles nila during barangay election in terms of peace and security rin sa ating mga barangay,” said Lurio.
(Recently, the DILG conducted a webinar wherein we capacitated barangay police officers and informed them about their roles during the barangay elections in terms of peace and security in their barangay.)
She added that as part of the preparation for the BSKE, in coordination with the PNP, police will be deployed in election hotspots to ensure a safe and violence-free environment during the election.
Hotspots are areas or places where there is potential violence or tension between local candidates, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Lurio said that if needed, more uniformed personnel will be deployed in places with recorded election-related violence.
Furthermore, the assistant director also expressed support for Comelec’s Kontra-Bigay program in maintaining the integrity of the results and process of the election.
Lurio said that they report incidents such as premature campaigning, vote buying, vote selling, and other related prohibited acts to the Comelec.
She likewise mentioned that DILG conducts webinars about vote buying and selling schemes, as well as ways to record evidence.
Lurio said that while it is still early to compare the current election situation to the previous ones, the 2023 BSKE, so far, seems to go smoother as there are fewer violations of election laws reported to the DILG.
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