BACOLOD City – The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Noppo) will have an intensified security campaign for the upcoming Barangay and SangguniangKabataan (SK) elections this May 14.
In a statement, Noppo said it will work with other law enforcement agencies and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in maintaining peace and order during the election period, which will start on April 14.
The agencies conducted a series of coordinating conferences for the election security plan.
Checkpointswill be installed in strategic areas across Negros Occidental to enforce circulation control measures and other laws, orders and regulations, the Noppo said.
Police personnel will be deployedto areas of convergence for police visibility across the province.Mobile and beat patrols will also be conducted.
The election gun ban will take effect, too.
Noppo Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Castil said his personnel will be “fair and neutral” in implementing the law as he appealed for the public’s “vigilance, cooperation and support” aimed at having a “peaceful and orderly election.”
“Let us together prevent a bloody barangay and SK elections in Negros Occidental,” Castil stressed.
Under Comelec Resolution No. 10246, the filing of the certificates of candidacy (COCs) will begin on April 14 and will end on April 20.
The election period is set from the first day of the filing of COCs to May 21, during which the Comelec prohibits the “alteration of precincts or establishment of new precincts, carrying of firearms or other deadly weapons, use of security personnel or bodyguards by candidates, transfer of officers and employees in the civil service, and suspension of any elective local officer.”/PN
