Gen. Dionardo Carlos, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), has ordered all police commanders to start conducting threat assessment on all the local candidates in their respective areas of responsibility in preparation for the security measures when the campaign period for local candidates starts on March 25.

"They need to assess who among the candidates are really under threat because they are in the better position to do that," said Carlos.

Once the threat assessment is done, Carlos said he expects all police commanders to come up with the list of the candidates who are likely targets of attack in order for the PNP to come up with measures to protect them.

He said his order for threat assessment was done on march 7 and he expects all the assessments to be submitted to his office by March 22.

"The goal is to have all these assessments consolidated so that when he start the deployment by March 25, these will all be factored in. The deployment will also depend on that threat assessment," said Carlos.

He said that once a candidate running for reelection is assessed to be facing threat, his security package includes personnel from the local police or provincial Mobile Force for extra security.

But he said the same security package will also be extended to those who are not seeking for reelection.

Carlos said he also directed all Regional Directors to conduct assessment if they need additional personnel to ensure security in their respective regions.

He explained that additional personnel that the Regional Directors would come from the five Area Police Commands of the PNP which have direct supervision and control of Regional Mobile Forces Battalions.