PNP sets up assistance centers to ensure orderly elections

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police is set to install security centers near polling precincts a week before election day in an effort to ensure an orderly automated elections on May 10.

Senior Superintendent Emmanuel Louise Licup of the Directorate for Operations said that the PNP will deploy officers, who will man security assistance desks (SAD) in all 34,000 polling centers nationwide to guard the election process. “In areas under threat we may deploy a platoon of policemen and optionl na yung AFP,” said Licup, chief of DO’s special operations division during PNP’s weekly program Talakayan Sa Isyung Pulis (TSIP).

Licup said the deployment of SADs will start from May 4 or upon the arrival of the PCOS machines and will stay until May 11 to secure the equipment and the ballots that would be used in the automated elections.

Licup said SAD officers will be tasked “to assist all security concerns of stakeholders and voters, including election-related violations that could transpire on election day. He clarified that SADs can only be installed upon a written request from the Board of Election Inspectors and should be set up 50 meters away from the polling precincts. He said that for every polling center there should be at least two SADs depending on the situation such as those in the areas of concern where security centers are necessary.

The official said SADs will be composed of the PNP and Armed forces of the Philippines personnel with the supervision of Comelec officials. The SAD officers are assigned to assist the voters of any security concern within their area.

PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa said with the assistance of police personnel, they have successfully transferred precinct-count optical scan (PCOS) machines from the main warehouse in Laguna to the designated hubs in certain areas that will be used for the first automated elections on May 10. The PCOS machines from Smartmatic-TIM, the company responsible for providing the election machines, will be carried over by the PNP to the respective polling precincts of every area nationwide.

Verzosa said the PNP will conduct a re-alignment of election personnel to some areas to ensure deployment of sufficient number of personnel in polling precincts to maintain peace and order during elections day.