By Armando Fenequito Jr.
DAVAO CITY - The Police Regional Office 11 (PRO 11) has a contingent of 175 police officers who will replace teachers who fail to show up on election day due to security reasons.
PRO 11 regional director Police Brig. Gen. Marcelo Morales (PRO 11/ MANILA BULLETIN)
PRO 11 regional director Police Brig. Gen. Marcelo Morales said the police officers will be deployed to remote villages where they anticipate teachers will be a no-show for various reasons.
"As the election period goes near, we will identify the areas that could have a problem that the teacher will be facing," he said.
"For example in Compostela Valley or Davao Occidental that have far barangays and the teachers will find it hard to go there, then we will deploy the police there," Morales explained.
He said the police contingent have been trained by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on the election process and how to use the vote counting machine (VCM).
The Department of Education 11 (DepEd 11) bared that around 30, 000 teachers are ready to serve on Monday’s midterm polls.
DepEd 11 spokesperson Jenielito Atillo said Comelec 11 conducted a series of orientation training to prepare them for the coming polls.
"We have given sufficient time for the training and they (Comelec) addressed earlier issues and concerns raised from our side," he said.
Atillo said even if there is a law which provides that serving in the election is voluntary on the part of the teacher, only less than 10 percent opted not to serve as Board of Election Inspectors (BEI).
"This somehow is a manifestation that public teachers are more than ready to be of service to the country this election," he said.
Among those who opted not to serve in the midterm polls are those with health issues and those with relatives running for local positions.