The Philippine National Police (PNP) said Sunday an additional 800 police officers would be deployed in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to beef up the security measures in the region ahead of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).
PNP spokesperson Police Colonel Jean Fajardo said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview that additional manpower would be sent to BARMM given that more than 70% of the 361 areas under the red category were in the region.
“Nag-request kasi ng augmentation personnel ang regional director… kaya magpapadala tayo doon ng 800 na additional personnel,” she said.
(Because the regional director requested for augmentation personnel, we will send 800 additional personnel to BARMM.)
“Inaasahan natin na if not today ay bukas ay ipapadala na natin ‘yung initial na 150. ‘Yung remaining po ay manggagaling sa Region 10, 11, 12, pati na rin Special Action Force,” she added.
(The initial 150 personnel are expected to be deployed today or tomorrow. The remaining would come from Regions 10, 11, 12, and from the Special Action Force.)
Fajardo said the 800 additional personnel did not include the augmentation from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).
In total, there are 187,600 PNP personnel who would be deployed nationwide in light of the BSKE on October 30.
She said 4,400 police officers were also trained to serve as Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) for the upcoming elections. More than half of these BEIs were also deployed in BARMM.
“Kung sila ay magse-serve as BEIs, ay wala silang dalang mga baril dahil nasa loob mismo sila ng mga polling centers natin. Although ‘yung nasa labas na mga pulis natin ay merong mga armas,” Fajardo said.
(If they would serve as BEIs, the police will not carry firearms because they will be inside our polling centers. Police who stationed outside would be armed.)
Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Garcia said Sunday there were also around 3,000 PNP personnel nationwide who were being trained to substitute for the teachers who would withdraw as electoral board members for the BSKE. — DVM, GMA Integrated News
