PRO-7 ready for last day of COC filing

CEBU, Philippines - The Police Regional Office-7 has  anticipated a possible surge of candidates and voters at Commission on Election offices today, the last day of the filing of the Certificate of Candidacy.

Senior Superintendent Rey Lyndon Lawas, the chief of the Directorial Staff of the PRO-7, said they have already called the attention of police directors in the region to assess the situation at the Comelec offices in their areas.

“If there’s a need for us to field more police personnel to secure the Comelec offices, kay basin there will be an influx of the last minute filing of COC,” said Lawas, adding this assumption is already part of their worst-case scenario.

Lawas, though, said this will depend on the police’s coordination with the Comelec registrars if they needed more police assistance.

“We don’t want to overreact also. So in coordination with the Comelec registrars, we are ready to field more police personnel in different Comelec offices,” said Lawas.

He said this does not necessarily mean that the Comelec registrars need to send formal request for additional police personnel in their office, but the police will be the one to go to the offices to coordinate with them.

“This is being pro-active already karon pa lang daan kay basin ma-busy na pud atong mga Comelec registrar, they won’t have time to formally request for police assistance so the policemen will have the initiative,” said Lawas.

Lawas said as of yesterday, they have not received any information that the filing of the COCs need to be extended up to midnight. He said though that the police officers detailed in the different Comelec offices will secure the area until the office closes.

A minimum of four policemen are deployed in shifts at Comelec offices for the weeklong filing of COCs.

With this, the whole region of Central Visayas has been in heightened alert starting last Monday, the start of the filing of the COCs.  (FREEMAN)