Mandaue police gear up for elections

CEBU, Philippines – With three more days to go before the barangay and Sanggunian Kabataan elections, the Mandaue City Police Office said they are now 100 percent prepared for any untoward incident that may happen during the election period.

Supt. James Goforth, chief of the Operations and Plans Division of MCPO, yesterday said that security preparations for the coming barangay elections was completed in September 25 yet and will end up to the last day of the election period on November 10.

Goforth explained that although there is no barangay in the city that is placed under "areas of immediate concerns," there are at least two barangays in the city that they considered as priority barangays, which need special attention during the election day.

The police official said that even if they consider barangays Opao and Subangdaku as their priority barangays, the city is still generally peaceful based on the parameters set by the Comelec.

The priority barangay, he said, should be given special attention due to the influx of voters, adding that if there are a lot of people, there is also the probability of the presence of criminal elements.

Another factor they considered in placing one area as priority barangay is the presence of political rivalry.

From September 25 up to present, the MCPO only recorded one election-related violence and it occurred in Barangay Subangdaku on October 14. In that incident, the entire slate of Ernie Manatad, a candidate for barangay captain, was stoned by unknown suspects while they were conducting a rally. Luckily, the stones only hit the foot of Rene Tecson, a candidate for barangay councilman.

During Monday's barangay elections, a total of 181,226 registered voters for both SK and the barangay will troop the 25 voting centers of the city. Of the number, 176,464 will vote for the barangay candidates while a total of 4,762 will choose their SK leaders.

A total of 63 candidates are running for barangay captains, 587 candidates for barangay councilmen, 62 for SK chairperson and 395 for SK councilors.

Goforth said that on Monday, one police official with four police non-commissioned officers will be deployed in every polling center.

A police assistance center will also be put up in every polling center as special task force composed of three mobile groups to augment the cops assigned at the polling centers.

This as MCPO has also requested for the augmentation from the PRO-7 while the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will also deploy officers to augment the police personnel. (FREEMAN)