Comelec, PNP ready for barangay elections

CEBU, Philippines - While the police is quite lack of its personnel but the preparation for Monday’s barangay elections is already in place.

The Regional Joint Security Coordinating Council (RJSCC) led by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) 7 has ended its series of meetings yesterday by finalizing concerns especially on security matters.

“We are very ready for the elections,” said Comelec 7 regional director Temie Lambino.

In Cebu City, a total of 1,044 police personnel will be working for the elections with 546 of them are assigned at the polling centers.

Cebu City has 3,207 established precincts and 1,557 clustered precincts in 70 polling centers. There are a total of 576,481 registered voters in the city.

Cebu City Police Office will be closely monitoring barangays Guadalupe, Tisa, and Lahug, who have the most number of voters.

CCPO director Noli Romana said they will also continuously monitor drug-infested barangays such as Pasil, Ermita, Duljo Fatima, and Lorega on possible existence of narco-politics.

Mountain barangays of Guba, Agsungot, and Tudtod have also been closely watched following verbal tussles between the contending parties.

Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director, C/Supt. Danilo Constantino, said they lack the manpower but the Armed Forces of the Philippines will cover them up.

Cebu Provincial Police Office director, S/Supt. Noel Gillamac, admitted they need more or less 1,000 personnel to be augmented province-wide while they only have 903 deployable personnel out of the 1,326 total police strength of the CPPO.

The remaining 423 will remain as station duty in their respective police stations.

Gillamac said they need to provide at least two police personnel in every polling center.

The AFP is augmenting 343 personnel while the Regional Operations and Plans Division (ROPD) has assured to provide 227 personnel.

“We are happy for the development  as R3 (ROPD) already promised more than 200 personnel,” Gillamac said after the RJSCC meeting yesterday.— /GMR (FREEMAN)