Around 75,000 personnel of the Philippine Army (PA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) who have election duties were qualified to participate in the local absentee voting that culminated on Friday, April 29.

Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., PA Commanding General, said that a total of 34,570 Army personnel have qualified for local absentee voting for the election of national candidates – president, vice president, senators, and party-list representatives – during the three-day local absentee voting period.

Brawner reminded the troops of their two tasks in the May 2022 national and local polls: first is to practice the right of suffrage, and second is to ensure the safe, orderly, and peaceful conduct of the elections.

“We have already given instruction to all of our units to focus not just on internal security operations but also on the elections especially before, during, and after the elections. Hindi naman natin pwede ibalewala ‘yung security ng ating (We cannot just take for granted the security of our) elections so we have to really ensure that these elections will be orderly and peaceful,” Brawner said.

Meanwhile, Gen. Dionardo Carlos, PNP Chief, said at least 3,248 personnel in various offices and units at the PNP national headquarters and 38,604 registered voters in the different police regional offices (PROs) qualified for the local absentee voting.

"The PNP will perform professionally to ensure peaceful, orderly and honest elections. All police personnel are enjoined to participate in the only political activity that we are allowed to exercise, that is to cast our vote," Carlos said.

Security personnel who will render election duties on May 9 were allowed to cast their votes earlier so they could perform their tasks.

Both the leaderships of the PA and PNP reminded their personnel to remain non-partisan in the elections.

“We remind our soldiers to be professional always. Kaya ang ating paalala sa kasundaluhan, dalawa lang ang ating (That’s why we remind the entire Army force that we only have two) tasking: number one is to vote, number two is to ensure the safety and security of the elections,” Brawner said.

“It is imperative for the organization to give the opportunity to our personnel, who are also citizens of the country, to make their votes count. The local absentee voting is an avenue for them to be part of nation-building through this democratic exercise. But let it be cleared that their votes are of their personal choices and no influence from the organization whatsoever has been imposed upon them,” Carlos stated.

The PNP, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and other law enforcement agencies are given the responsibility to achieve a violence-free and fraud-free local and national polls.

A few days to go before the May 9 polls, the PNP and the AFP said they have been beefing up their respective security forces and measures to thwart potential criminal act that can intimidate or threaten the conduct of elections.