Marbil: PNP to go all out in securing vote canvassing
At A Glance
- PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil said his instruction is to ensure that all vote canvassing areas are secured after the voting--or from 6 p.m. to 12 midnight
Police forces across the country were instructed to go all out in securing the canvassing of votes for the midterm elections.
Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said they expect police commanders to further step up the security measures starting at least 6 p.m.
“We don’t see any problem right now and we will be monitoring the accounting after the election by 7 p.m.,” said Marbil in an interview after his meeting with top police commanders at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
“We should have more forces by 6 p.m. We want a full force by 6 p.m. up to 12 o’clock during the duration of the counting of votes,” he added.
He said instructions were made to run after those who would dare to influence the results of the elections, especially that one of the instructions of President Marcos iks to ensure huge voter turnout.
And among the measures to achieve that goal is to ensure the safety of the voters and this is the reason why Marbil said he wants to be tough against troublemakers.
“We will remove as many troublemakers. I want more arrests. Nobody should create trouble during elections,” said Marbil.
Marbil said the conduct of elections across the country is generally peaceful although the first few hours of polls were greeted with technical glitches and power interruptions.
Based on the PNP data, a total of 34,494 voting centers were opened as of 7 a.m. on May 12, the figure represents 91.92 percent of the total number of polling centers across the country.
More than 163,000 policemen were also deployed across the country, backed by over 200,000 personnel from various law enforcement agencies like the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine Coast Guard.
Despite the deployment, gun attacks were recorded in some parts of the country hours before the start of the voting on Monday.
In Davao del Norte, at least two people were injured while two others were arrested as supporters of opposing candidates in New Corella town figured in a gun battle in Barangay Mesaoy.
In Negros Occidental, two people died while five others were injured after a group led by a barangay captain opened fire on the victims in Barangay Mambulac in Silay City.
In Basilan, the Climate Conflict Action Asia (CCAA) reported that three people died while several others were injured when the convoy of a mayoralty candidate was ambushed in Hadji Muhtamad town.
Marbil, however, said there is no need to tap more cops since the number of deployed policemen is sufficient, especially that other law enforcement agencies also deployed their respective personnel.
“We have already placed so many resources on the ground and we are all focused on ensuring the security from the voting to the canvassing of votes,” he said.
The Commission on Elections earlier said that it could proclaim winners at least three hours after the end of the voting at 7 p.m.