300 military, police personnel beef up security in Camanava

At least 300 military and police special action force personnel arrived in Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela (Camanava) Camanava area yesterday to help in the conduct of a peaceful and orderly elections in the northern part of Metro Manila.

"Security preparations are all in place with hundreds of military men to augment our police force," Chief Superintendent Marcelino Franco Jr., Northern Police District director, told The STAR.

The arrival of more police and military personnel in Camanava was an offshoot of the killing on Saturday of Hernando Dabalus, 60, the political strategist of Malabon City Mayor Mark Allan Jay Yambao.

At least five unidentified armed men, believed to be guns for hire, barged inside the Lakas campaign headquarters in Barangay San Agustin early in the morning and shot Dabalus as he lay asleep.

Franco said the police are still digging deeper into the case as the gunmen appeared to be "well trained."

The military men deployed in Camanava are composed of Marine and Army troopers while the police Special Action Unit came from the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).

Around 70 members of the augmentation force were deployed in Malabon City, which is considered an "area of immediate concern" while at least 130 were scattered in Caloocan City in the northern metropolis.

Despite a tense political situation in Caloocan, Superintendent Dionicio Borromeo, the city police intelligence chief, assured residents of the city that elections would be peaceful.

"At least three distribution centers of election paraphernalia are now in place unlike in the last election when we only had one," Borromeo said.

He added that security men were already deployed in all strategic areas in Caloocan.

In Navotas, Superintendent Billy Beltran, the town’s police chief, said that around 37 troopers from the Army were to arrive yesterday in his municipality to reinforce the local police.

"Though there’s no indication that violence would taint the political exercise in my area, we still need to tighten security," Beltran said.

Superintendent Jose Marcelo, Valenzuela City police chief, said that at least 55 augmentation personnel from the Army and the NCRPO arrived in his area.

"We are relatively peaceful but more security men are needed to ensure a peaceful and orderly conduct of the election in our city," Marcelo said.