100 RMG personnel to secure hotspots

CEBU, Philippines - One hundred personnel of the Regional Mobile Group arrived in Cebu yesterday morning for deployment to places identified as election hotspots.

Senior Supt. Erson Digal, Acting Provincial Police Director, said the RMG personnel will be deployed to 11 provinces and two cities recommended to be placed in the watch list of the Commission on Elections.

Digal said two teams with 16 members each will be deployed to Poro, Camotes Island while several members of the 78th Infantry Battalion will be deployed to San Francisco, also in Camotes.

Digal said 88 personnel will be deployed to two other cities and 11 provinces. He said each of the personnel will receive an allowance of P1,000 to cover five days of service for the election. They will also be provided with two sacks of rice and canned goods.

Digal said the provisions are intended to avoid politicians from claiming that they are the ones feeding the police personnel.

“I don’t want to hear nga naay mga biases during sa inyong duty… Akong siguraduon nga walay bulilyaso…I’ll assure you nga mahatagan mo sa akong giingon,” Digal told his men.

He assured that the provisions would be distributed, following complaints of some personnel last year that they never received their allowances.

Digal said he has instructed his men not to follow orders not coming from their higher-ups.

“I also instructed RMG to follow only legal orders coming from Headquarters” he said. – THE FREEMAN