THE Philippine National Police (PNP) will be fielding around 40,000 to ensure the safe and peaceful conduct of the 2022 national and local elections on May 9, PNP Chief Dionardo Carlos said on Monday, April 25, 2022.
Carlos said these figures are still expected to go up next week to boost the security operations for the upcoming polls.
“Yun amin pong mga admin personnel na hindi mag aavail ng absentee voting this April 27, 28, 29, for deployment naman sila sa kung saan sila botante,” he said.
“Yun aming pong initial 16,000 (police personnel) na undergoing training ni-recall natin ng April 6. Sila naman po nagtapos na ng kanilang mga orientation, for deployment din po yang 16,000 plus. So madagdagan po yung pulis natin on the ground come D-Day,” he added.
Carlos said they are maintaining the close monitoring of the situation on the ground in order to fulfill the commitment of President Rodrigo Duterte to the public for an honest, fair and peaceful elections.
Aside from security operations, the PNP is also taking part in the Commission on Election’s effort to prevent vote buying and other illegal activities related to the elections.
Meanwhile, PNP Public Information Office chief Brigadier General Roderick Alba said more than 30,000 policemen will join the local absentee voting, in which 26,813 were assigned in Police Regional Offices (PROs) while 3,248 are assigned in National Headquarters in Camp Crame.
Local absentee votees may only vote for national positions. They will jot down manually the names of their candidates.
Under LAV, voters are allowed to vote in places where they are not registered voters but where they are temporarily assigned to perform election duties on election day, or in the case of the media, who will not be able to vote due to the performance of their functions in covering and reporting on the elections. (SunStar Philippines)