Albayalde says police almost 100% prepared for polls

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Police General Oscar Albayalde on Tuesday said the police organization is almost 100% ready in its preparations for the elections next week.

"Well as to the preparation, halos 100% prepared na tayo but of course, ang sabi nga natin hindi naman natin ito masabi na that we are totally prepared not until the election is over," Albayalde told reporters.

"We cannot of course say na 100% na magiging zero incident tayo... hopefully maging zero incident tayo with all the preparations that we have made already together with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Commission on Elections (Comelec) and other agencies of the government," he added.

Almost 800,000 personnel from the police, the military, the Comelec and the Department of Education will be deployed to secure the upcoming elections.

Of the said number, 98,000 are soldiers while 143,000 are cops.

According to AFP chief General Benjamin Madrigal, the bulk of the more than 90,000 soldiers will be deployed in areas that are experiencing threats from communist groups, especially in Mindanao.

"Now ang ginagawa naman natin ano, we prioritize of course 'yung clearing ng ating mga dadaanan ng mga election paraphernalia at saka election supervising personnel," Madrigal said.

Meanwhile, Albayalde reiterated that at present, police have not monitored any serious threats. Still, he vowed that the PNP, as well as the military, will continue to monitor the situation especially in Mindanao.

"We don't want to put our guards down and especially so in Mindanao... nandiyan po 'yung ating AFP at concentrated sila doon sa sinasabi natin na medyo critical na area," Albayalde said. — RSJ, GMA News