CEBU, Philippines - Places under the Commission on Elections watchlist will be prioritized in the deployment of policemen before and during elections day on May 9.
Senior Superintendent Rey Lyndon Lawas, Police Regional Office-7 deputy regional director for operations, said that aside from prioritizing areas in the watchlist, they would also send more policemen in places where there are more voters.
The Comelec has identified 21 such areas in Central Visayas, seven of them in Cebu province.
Speaking during the Citizen's Press Council's 42nd quarterly meeting yesterday, Lawas said the seven places in Cebu are Bogo City and the towns of Carmen, Dumanjug, Daanbantayan, Medellin, Tuburan, and San Fernando.
He said they noticed intense political rivalry in the six towns that could escalate into violence if no intervention is done while Bogo City has a previous election-related incident that may happen again.
Lawas said the deployment of policemen will be concentrated in these areas as more police and military personnel will be assigned to maintain peace and order there.
He said the towns of San Francisco in Camotes Islands and Tabogon town may soon join the list if the validating team he led would make such a recommendation.
He said the strafing incident in San Francisco on Saturday and a similar incident in Tabogon the other night will be looked into if it they were election-related or not.
The team, Lawas said, would be able to complete its validation report in three days.
PRO-7 Director Patrocinio Comendador said in an earlier interview that of the 9,000 policemen in the region, more than 7,000 police officers will be deployed in the field during the election day.
In particular, two to six policemen would be stationed inside every polling center.
Comendador said policemen would also be deployed even before the election day to secure the vote counting machines.
A day before the election, the VCMs are expected to be delivered to polling centers for the checking and sealing of the machines.
Despite the number, however Comendador said his men are barely enough to secure the whole region.
To address this, they tapped the help of the Armed Forces of the Philippines for a synchronized deployment plan.
Lawas said they are also calling on all candidates to rein in their supporters as their "moral obligation" to avoid untoward incidents on elections day.
"Usahay ang supporters, sa kainit sa suporta sa ilang kandidato, wala sila kahibawo nga silay naka-create sa problema," he said. (FREEMAN)