Monitoring of “armed groups” to start as election draws near

CEBU, Philippines - Months before the start of the campaign period for the 2016 election, the Police Regional Office-7 is preparing for the assessment of existing armed groups in the region and the possibility of these groups to be used by politicians.

Chief Superintendent Prudencio Tom Bañas, regional director of PRO-7, said he already directed intelligence officers to conduct an assessment on the armed groups in the region with other law enforcement agencies and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

“We will come up with an assessment on the identification of the existing armed groups, the capabilities and most probably who are affiliated with these armed groups,” said Bañas.

He said they already have records of armed groups in Central Visayas, which they have filed from previous elections.

“Part of the assessment will be checking if they still exist, what happened to this armed group, has this expanded, and where are the personalities identified with these armed group,” he said.

Bañas said alongside with this, they will also assess election candidates if there are those who have the tendency to affiliate with these armed groups.

He said after the assessment, they will then discuss in their workshop the counter measures that they will undertake to neutralize the armed group. He added part of this is their continuous operation on loose firearms.

He said upon the declaration of the election period this coming January, all security personnel assigned to the politicians will be recalled, unless they already have a permit from the Commission on Election.

However, he said not everybody who applies for security will be granted with their request. He said the application will be assessed by a committee from the Philippine National Police and the COMELEC who will determine the gravity of threat that a certain election candidate is facing.

Bañas also said they are waiting for advice from the national headquarters on when the gun ban will be implemented. (FREEMAN)