Ensure safety of BSKE bets, PNP urged

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has asked the Philippine National Police (PNP) to protect and ensure the safety of both the winning and losing candidates in the recent barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections following the deaths of two winners in Pasay City and Davao.

“Chairman George Garcia is calling on law enforcement agencies and security government agencies to continue protecting our kababayan and candidates who won or lost the elections,” Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said in Filipino in a statement.

Paul Albert Saquian, a newly elected village chief in Panabo City in Davao del Norte and Marcelina Camacho, a kagawad or village councilor in Pasay City were shot dead this week.

Comelec urged the PNP to intensify its campaign against criminal and private armed groups and loose firearms.

The positions of the newly elected village officials who passed away, Laudiangco said, shall be considered permanently vacant, after which the “rule of succession” shall apply.

Under the rule of succession, the next highest elected official shall assume the vacant position while the city or municipal mayor shall appoint a qualified individual to fill the last vacant post.

Security plan

The PNP has ordered police commanders to review their security plans.

PNP public information officer Col. Jean Fajardo said police officials are authorized to review their security measures in their areas of jurisdiction such as alert status and deployment of personnel.

“We are giving regional directors and field commanders discretion to determine if they should lower their alert status or not,” Fajardo said in Filipino in a news briefing at Camp Crame.

The PNP has recorded six violent incidents targeting village officials after the Oct. 30 BSKE.

Two incidents occurred in Soccsksargen and one each in Davao, Northern Mindanao, Calabarzon and Metro Manila.

Four were killed in these incidents: a barangay councilor in Pasay, two village councilors in Soccsksargen and a barangay captain in Davao.

A barangay councilor and captain were injured in Northern Mindanao and Calabarzon.

The PNP has recorded 77 election-related incidents in which 19 were killed and 66 were injured.

Bangsamoro is at the top of the list with 39 incidents followed by Mimaropa with 13 and the Cordilleras with five.

The figure is already higher by 92.5 percent compared to 40 cases of violent incidents in the 2018 BSKE. – Emmanuel Tupas