PNP: No serious poll threats, but ‘all hands on deck’

Personnel from the Angeles City Police Office gather in formation in this undated photo. The Philippine National Police declared on May 10 that no threats to the May 12 midterms elections were monitored. —Photo from Police Regional Office 3

MANILA, Philippines — Over 3,000 officers and personnel of the Philippine National Police are on standby to serve as special electoral boards (SEBs) on May 12 should the Commission on Elections (Comelec) ask for assistance.

Police Maj. Gen. Roderick Augustus Alba, director for Police Community Relations of the PNP, said on Saturday that police officers were ready to serve in areas where teachers and other poll workers are not available.

“We are ready to provide these trained SEBs. Then we have also prepared to have our security plans in place,” Alba said at a news forum in Quezon City.

The PNP earlier said that as of May 5, 37 election hot spots were identified, 35 of which are in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

READ: Comelec taps cops to run voting centers in BARMM

But Alba said the PNP remains with “all hands on deck” for the midterm elections on Monday.

In a separate radio interview also on Saturday, Police Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo, spokesperson for the PNP, said the police has not monitored any serious threat ahead of the elections.

“We have not monitored any serious threats, but we are not complacent, and our intelligence gathering is ongoing,” Fajardo said.

The PNP on Thursday said that it has recorded 40 election-related incidents, mostly in BARMM with eight, followed by the Cordillera Administrative Region with seven.

The Comelec has said that 69.6 million registered voters in the May 12 elections will cast their votes for 18,320 elective positions.

Data show 12 senators, 63 party list representatives, 254 district lawmakers and over 18,000 local government officials are being contested in this year’s elections. /cb