Local police chiefs urged to initiate more peace pacts

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Alan Purisima yesterday ordered all police commanders nationwide to initiate more peace covenants among rival politicians to ensure peaceful and orderly elections in May.

Purisima said the peace covenants would lessen possible election-related violence, as the campaign period for local candidates nears.

“This could be a hard task but this should serve as a test of leadership to all our police commanders to live up to the mandate of being peacemakers,” Purisima said.

The National Task Force SAFE (Secure and Fair Elections) 2013 reported that a total of 327 peace covenants have been signed across the country. 

Purisima, however, said the signing of peace covenants should be given priority in areas with a history of intense political rivalries, especially in the 15 priority provinces of the National Task Force SAFE.

“Peace covenants will serve as a constant reminder for them to stick within the bounds of the law to reduce to the lowest level cases of election-related violent incidents in the coming elections,” he said.

Early this week, the PNP and the Consortium in Election Reforms-Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms, along with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Armed Forces, spearheaded the signing of a peace covenant among candidates vying for regional and provincial elective positions in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Maguindanao, respectively.

This developed as the PNP has arrested a total of 1,103 violators of the gun ban which the Comelec enforced last Jan. 13. At least 1,089 firearms were seized.