Tacloban City — The Regional Peace and Order Council in Eastern Visayas on Tuesday revealed that its security sector has already placed security measures to ensure an honest, credible and peaceful conduct of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections 2023.
In a briefing, RPOC chairperson and Tacloban chief executive Mayor Alfred Romualdez led the security sector in mapping out preparations relative to the significant activities of the BSKE to include the filing of Certificate of Candidacy, Campaign Period and Election Day.
The security sector, led by 8th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army and the Philippine National Police regional office, in coordination with the Commission on Elections regional office has identified certain gaps and specific courses of actions to address them to ensure a successful conduct of polls.
The RPOC Security Sector is also closely monitoring the situation in identified election areas of concern in order to preempt any eventuality that may be caused by intense political rivalry and the presence of armed threat groups.
Meantime, Comelec regional director Atty. Jose Nick A. Mendros reported a total of 3,808 identified voting centers in Eastern Visayas which will be subjected to heightened election security coverage.
P/Brig. Gen. Vincent Calanoga, regional director of Police Regional Office 8, specifically pointed out the need for establishing a communication system with the barangays, particularly in Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas, to better improve government response on reports of election-related violence.
He also assured the deployment of PNP personnel to handle the security operations during the election.
The 8th Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army expressed continuing assistance in maintaining peace and security while the Office of the Civil Defense 8 had assured the provision of logistical support in the BSKE preparations, in close coordination with the Department of the Interior and Local Government 8.