INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Over 1,200 policemen served as poll workers in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) during Monday’s village and youth elections after teachers backed out due to security concerns.
Police Brigadier General Allan Nobleza, regional director of the BARMM’s police office, said a total of 1,201 personnel from the Philippine National Police (PNP) have been deployed in the area to avoid failure of elections.
“Meron po tayong mga naka-deploy sa polling centers na 1,201 PNP-trained special electoral boards para sa mga umatras na 1,201 teachers,” Nobleza said over radio dwPM.
(We deployed in polling centers a total of 1,201 PNP-trained special electoral boards for those 1,201 teachers who backed out.)
“Sa pakikipag-ugnayan po sa Comelec (Commission on Elections) ito po ‘yung kanilang mga request sa atin, magbigay po tayo ng mga pulis para po hindi magkaroon ng failure of elections doon sa mga lugar kung saan umatras ang mga teachers,” he noted.
(Through our coordination with the Comelec, they requested that we deploy policemen as substitutes to teachers to avoid failure of elections.)
In Lanao del Sur alone, Nobleza said 1,198 policemen were deployed to replace the teachers who backed out.
“Sa Lanao del Sur meron pong 1,198 na mga teachers na hindi nagsilbi na mga electoral boards kaya po nagkaroon po tayong ng 1,198 na mga pulis na kung saan sila po ang nag-replace sa mga teachers na hindi nakapag-perform as electoral boards due to security reasons,” he said.
(In Lanao del Sur, we have 1,198 teachers who did not serve as electoral boards so a total of 1,198 police replaced the teachers who did not perform as electoral boards due to security reasons.)
In anticipation of this event, Nobleza also said the police had been trained for weeks before assuming the role of electoral boards.
A number of election-related incidents were reported in Barrm.
Schools in Maguindanao del Norte and Lanao del Norte, which was supposed to be a voting center, were burned.
On election day, two voters were also killed and three others hurt in a shooting incident in Maguindanao del Norte.
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