8,000 officers begin Election Day security duties with a prayer
Elections in the region will be secured by 8,000 police and military officers who were deployed to the provinces yesterday.
A PRAYER FOR THEIR SAFE RETURN.
Some 8,000 police officers and soldiers gather in the Cebu City Sports Center to hear their orders, before fanning out for their Election Day duties.
Pray for your husbands’ and wives’ safe return after the elections.
This was what Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Chief Supt. Robert Quenery asked during yesterday morning’s ceremony that sent off more than 8,000 police and soldiers who will secure the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.
“We encourage the families of the soldiers and police to always pray for their loved ones and we leave it up to the Lord our safety in the conduct of this election. We have done our best and we prepared very well for this,” Quenery said.
There are 129 poll hot spots in Central Visayas, with different barangays placed under codes orange and yellow.
Classified under Code Orange are those areas where there is a possible presence of armed groups, while those under Code Yellow are places where this is intense political rivalry.
Quenery also reminded the troops to remain non-partisan and to take care of themselves while they are on duty.
“As our intention is to have a peaceful and safe election, I also reminded my personnel to keep themselves safe. Mahalaga na mapangalagaan din nila ang kaligtasan nila upang sa ganoon ay maging epektibo sila at ma-ensure ang kaligtasan ng ibang tao,” Quenery said.
PO1 Aldrin Matin-ao from the Mandaue City Police Office reminded his wife to be careful.
“I love you very much and thank you for understanding that the times when we’re apart is part of my job as a police officer,” he said after he was assigned to the Bohol Provincial Police Office for the elections.
There are 33 poll hot spots in the province of Bohol, 23 under Code Orange and 10 under Code Yellow.
More than 7,000 police officers and 1,500 soldiers were deployed to different barangays in Region 7 for the elections.
Lawyer Veronico Petalcorin, regional election director of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) 7, said the troops should always abide by the law.
“Keep right, mao ni ang balaod sa kadalanan ug applied pud sa atong panerbisyo dinhi sa gobyerno ug sa paghandle sa politika sa eleksiyon. Sa pagbanatay sa kalinaw,” Petalcorin said.
Major Sandro Sereño, operations officer of the Task Force Cebu, said that they have quick reaction forces (QRF) on standby to help the police in securing the whole province.
“We have QRFs in San Fernando, Danao, Alcoy and we also placed our armor in Tuburan which has barangays with poll hotspots,” Sereño said.