Midterm elections generally peaceful, police say

THE 2019 midterm National and Local Elections has been generally peaceful, with no major untoward incident reported, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Monday, May 13.

PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde said there were isolated incidents, but these caused only minimal disruption to the peace and order.

“As voting hours officially closed at 6 p.m., the 2019 National and Local Elections turned out to be generally peaceful nationwide with no reported major untoward incident that affected the overall turnout of the electoral exercise,” Albayalde said.

“Except for isolated incidents that briefly interrupted voting in some voting centers in BARMM, and a few cases of technical malfunction of the Vote Counting Machines (VCM), voting went ahead smoothly and orderly in the 36,831 voting centers nationwide,” he added.

Albayalde said the PNP recorded 23 significant incidents such as shooting, indiscriminate firing, illegal discharge of firearms, explosion, grave threats, and harassments.

He said investigation is still ongoing to verify which of the incidents are classified as election-related incidents.

For his part, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of the Public Affairs Office Noel Detoyato said there were "attempts" to disrupt the peace and order but the government forces were quick to respond and immediately address the matter.

"The AFP congratulates the Filipino people for the successful conduct of the National and Local Elections 2019 and their peaceful exercise of their right to choose our leaders who will continue to plot the future of our country," he said.

"Very minimal breach of peace and order was monitored and reported from all over the country. There were last minute attempts to disrupt the conduct of elections but these were immediately addressed by our security forces," he added.

He said the preparations of the concerned agencies in order to ensure the peace and order and the safety of the people against intimidation, threats and harrassment have been effective.

Albayalde said police and military personnel will continue to man their posts to provide security to members of electoral board and Comelec personnel, and to secure election paraphernalia, documents and equipment as the canvassing begins.

However, he reminded the public that the Comelec gun ban remains in effect as the election period will culminate on June 12, 2019.

“Until such time, therefore, all illegal acts particularly the carrying of firearms, explosives and other deadly weapons; organization of security forces; and unauthorized employment of bodyguards and security personnel remain prohibited and are subject to police intervention,” said Albayalde.

Albayalde said a total of 332 incidents of vote buying were recorded with 297 persons arrested and three minors rescued.

He said a total of 986 persons were arrested for violation of the liquor ban.

Albayalde said only 517 police personnel, not 1,501 as he earlier reported, served as members of the Board of Election Inspectors to cover the absence of the teachers.

He commended his men for the success of their security operations for the midterm elections.

“With the success of our security operations, I would like to express my deep gratitude to all PNP personnel and thank the AFP, COMELEC and other government agencies who have been part of this resounding accomplishment,” he said.

“We will continue to be in a state of full preparedness until the electoral exercise is over. We are not lowering our guards yet and all election security measures will be similarly implemented in the succeeding days and weeks until the official culmination of the election period on June 12,” he added. (SunStar Philippines)

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