PNP: Election peaceful but cops to remain in their posts until canvassing, transmission are done

Police Lt. Gen. Vicente Danao, officer-in-charge of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said its personnel who were deployed to secure the elections will remain in their posts until the canvassing and transmission of votes at the local levels are done.

The same order, according to Danao, was given to soldiers and personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).

"Overall, the entire 13-hour political exercise has been relatively peaceful in fair comparison with the national elections we held in 2019 and 2016, and due consideration of some isolated incidents of violence and disorder that marred the otherwise uneventful conduct of today’s national and local polls," said Danao in a press briefing on Monday night, May 9, after the voting ended.

While there were reported violent incidents in some areas especially in Mindanao, Danao said the security situation is still peacefulm compared to the past two national and local elections.

He said that during the 2016 elections, the confirmed election-related incidents were at 133 while 60 during 2019 elections.

But as of 6 p.m. Monday, May 9 for this year's elections, only 16 election-related incidents were reported.

But he said the PNP will continue to be vigilant for the rest of the election period.

Overall, the government deployed more than 214,000 uniformed men to secure the elections.

Among them were 749 trained police personnel who served as alternate members of the Electoral Board in polling precincts in 37,213 voting centers in all regions.