MUCH stricter this time of the election season, "there will be no sacred cows in ranks," thus Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office (Noppo) Chief Senior Superintendent Manuel Felix said Friday.
Felix's statement came following declaration and directives of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that it would not hesitate to put in jail police and army found violating of the election rules.
On the other hand, Felix also said he is sees no problem with the Department of Interior and Local Government's (DILG) plan to implement low-level PNP reshuffling for the upcoming May 10, 2010 elections.
Felix said he support the idea, should the plan, if materialized, would truly benefit the people and of the country in general, "for the sake of clean and peaceful elections."
DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno earlier said a reshuffling on PNP officials and officers in the provincial and city levels would be implemented prior to the election, purposely "to ensure the police non-partisanship during
the elections."
Puno, who is also the concurrent chairman of the National Police Commission (Napolcom), however stressed that no major reshuffling would happen.
Puno added: "The first ones will be the provincial and City Police officers because it's obvious that the governor chosen his police director, he (PD) has been under his control and supervision, so how can you say that
when it's election time it's going to be fair,"
Felix, however, said he is going to make sure any police partisanship will not happen elsewhere in Negros Occidental, as he added he never perform his duty for a particular party "but for the people for a fair leadership
and with my personnel."
Felix also understand that perhaps it was the November 23, 2009 Ampatuan massacre in Maguindanao that prompted the government to impose such action.
It can be recalled that the suspects in the brutal killings of 57 people in the hostile province are members of the Provincial Police office there, as some witnesses, also tagged police in Maguindanao to have participated
in the massacre.