Cops warned: Stay ‘apolitical’ in polls or face sanctions

CEBU, Philippines - As the election period draws nearer, the Police Regional Office-7 warned policemen who have the tendency to favor certain politicians not to take if they do not want to face administrative sanctions.

And while he acknowledged issues on policemen accused of being identified with politicians always surface during elections, Senior Superintendent Rey Lyndon Lawas, PRO-7 Regional Directorial Staff chief, said they already have protocols that the Commission on Elections has set that they are following.

“For example, when we find out who the election candidates are in that place and there’s a police officer who has a relative among those candidates, we have to transfer them (policemen) to other areas to avoid biases by our police personnel,” said Lawas.

He said this may also apply to any police officer who had a very close relationship with any of the election candidates in their area of assignment.

Lawas said the transfer of these policemen might start immediately after the schedule of the filing of the certificate of candidacy, which started yesterday, for as long as they can see that there is the possibility that the policemen could be used by someone in advancing his political interest.

“Para malikayan lang gyud nato nga maduhigan ang ngalan sa pulis, nga maingon nga bias daw ning pulis.  We will have to pull him or her out from that (situation),” said Lawas.

The concerned policemen, however, could return to their original posts after the elections.

Lawas said that as part of the Philippine National Police, a policeman should be apolitical. Those who go beyond or violate this dictum, he said, would face transfer to another location.

“That’s part of our assessment unya later on and that will be one of the guides of our regional director (Chief Superintendent Prudencio Tom Bañas) on what to do with respect to that policeman,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lawas said Bañas has already directed all units in Central Visayas to deploy security personnel at the different COMELEC offices to ensure that the week-long filing of COCs would be smooth and orderly.

Lawas said a minimum of four policemen are to be deployed in shifts at the COMELEC offices. He assured PRO-7 is “more than willing” to provide if more policemen are need to keep the peace.

He said they have also directed the provincial and city police directors to submit a daily report on who have filed their COCs so that PRO-7 could look into the profiles of these candidates to assess if they have security concerns during the elections.

“So that we could also prepare on what security preparations we have to undertake as far as these candidates are concerned,” Lawas said. (FREEMAN)