WPD braces for polls; 700 cops deployed

The Western Police District will deploy 700 policemen to ensure that the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in Manila tomorrow will run as smooth and peaceful as possible.

Chief Inspector Gerry Agunod, WPD spokesman, said the policemen, mostly from the district’s Civil Disturbance Management (CDM) unit will be posted to secure the city’s 34,526 polling precincts in 1,694 barangays.

"We are now in alert. We are ready for any untoward election-related incident. The WPD is closely working with the Commission on Elections (Comelec)," said Agunod.

The policemen will see action today as they secure and escort ballot boxes from the Comelec Central Office in Intramuros, Manila to various polling precincts in the city, Agunod said.

Agunod also identified the city’s Tondo district as an "area of concern" due to the district’s large population.

Meanwhile, despite inclusion of Tondo and Quiapo in the list of ‘hot spots,’ Mayor Lito Atienza expressed confidence that the elections in Manila will be peaceful and orderly.

"I don’t see any real ‘hot spots’ here in Manila. There are some barangays in which the posts are hotly contested. But I don’t think it would cause trouble," Atienza told reporters during a news forum Friday morning.

Already, the WPD’s Tactical Operations Center has activated a District Election Monitoring Center (DEMC), to serve as a 24-hour monitoring nerve center. The center was tasked to monitor election-related violence, violations of the Comelec gun ban and other related incidents.

But according to DEMC officers, they still have to record incidents of poll violence as well as gun ban violations. – Mike Frialde and Cecille Suerte Felipe