INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine National Police (PNP) said Wednesday it expects a peaceful conduct of barangay (village) elections throughout the country, with the intensified security laid out for the May 28 balloting.
Although the PNP earlier identified several thousands of villages as election hotspots due to intense political rivalries and presence of rebels in those areas, Deputy Director General Ager Ontog, PNP deputy chief for Operations, said they don’t expect major problems to happen on Monday.
Police officers are set to be deployed in all polling precincts on Election Day to maintain peace and order.
“We expect that the elections will be fair and peaceful. . . we are also optimistic na dahil magkakakilala sila ay hindi naman magkakaroon ng masyadong violence kasi magkamag-anak , makakaibigan. At yun nga ang nais natin matanggal na kultura sa elections,” Ontog said.
(We expect that the elections will be fair and peaceful. . . we are also optimistic that since they are relatives and friends, they won’t likely resort to violence.)
He also said Deputy Director General Felipe Rojas Jr., PNP deputy chief for operations, is currently in Mindanao to finalize security preparations in regional police offices.
In the coming weekend, Ontog is set to go to visit Region VIII for the same purpose. They will be back on election day, he said.
PNP said that of the total 7,060 election hotspots in the country’s over 42,000 villages, most of the areas are located in Compostela Valley, Central Mindanao, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Central Visayas and the Bicol region.
Meanwhile, Police Senior Superintendent Wilben Mayor, PNP spokesman, said that as of 12:48 p.m., 483 persons, mostly civilians, have been arrested for allegedly violating the Commission on Elections gun ban rule.
Of the total number, 452 were civilians, five police officers, four military men, three government officials, and 18 security guards.
Nearly 400 firearms and over 2,000 ammunitions were recovered, along with 16 firearms replica, 157 bladed weapons, 64 grenades, and 221 other explosives.
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