PNP to go on full alert starting May 12 for HOPE

Starting May 12, the Philippine National Police will go on full alert to ensure peaceful and orderly conduct of the May 14 elections. PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Samuel Pagdilao Jr. said this will be the highlight of the PNP's Oplan Honest, Orderly and Peaceful Elections (HOPE). “Two days before May 14, 2007, the PNP will elevate its security status to Full Alert and PNP skeleton forces will be deployed a day before the election to ensure the security of the perimeters of polling places," Pagdilao said. He reminded all field commanders to adhere to the schedule of activities drawn by the directorate for operations to be undertaken before, on the eve and during Election Day. These include the enforcement of the bans on campaigning, selling and buying liquors and holding of cockfights and other similar amusements. PNP chief Oscar Calderon said police personnel must continue being visible until the process of counting of votes at the precinct level to the canvassing of votes to the city or provincial canvassing areas. He directed the commanders to lay down their contingency plan in case of electrical power failure, natural calamities, and emergency situations related to bomb explosion, armed attack, and mass demonstrations during and after election period. “Table top exercises must be undertaken by key unit commanders and staff to determine their capability and level on confidence in responding to the various election-related scenarios," said Calderon. Calderon particularly ordered all commanders nationwide to orchestrate the conduct of Peace Covenants among all candidates to foster an atmosphere of civility among them and their followers during the campaign period. He added PNP commanders from the regional down to the city and municipal station level must exert initiatives to promote a commitment among candidates and their supporters to honor the covenant. In his guidelines for the May 14 polls, Calderon directed Task Force HOPE to activate the Election Monitoring Action Center (EMAC) nationwide to closely monitor all election related developments from the start of the political campaign to the canvassing of vote's period. Calderon ordered his commanders to intensify police checkpoints, chokepoints, OPLAN “Sita" and Oplan “Bakal" to ensure that the Comelec rules and regulations on bearing, carrying or transporting of firearms, and the prohibition on illegal bodyguards for candidates and other similar rules are properly observed and enforced. Meanwhile, the PNP encouraged its personnel to exercise their right to vote even if they are assigned in other areas, even as it started processing its records to make sure police personnel on poll duty outside the areas where they registered can avail of the local absentee voting (LAV) scheme. Calderon directed the PNP Directorate for Personnel and Records Management (DPRM) to start accounting for PNP personnel who are duly registered voters but may be assigned to perform election duties in areas where they are not registered. Resolution no 7797 of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) entitles qualified PNP personnel to avail of the absentee voting scheme. For the May 14 elections the LAV is scheduled from April 28 to 30. For his part, DPRM chief P/Dir Nicolas Pasinos Jr. ordered all police regional directors, provincial directors, and National Support Unit commanders to submit to his office the list of PNP personnel who are Local Absentee Voters. Pasinos gave the commanders until March 7 to comply. Pasinos said policemen who cannot vote in precincts where they are duly registered because they are assigned to perform election related duties elsewhere may do so in places designated by the Comelec's Committee on Local Absentee Voting. “We have only until March 14, 2007 to comply with the procedures set by the Comelec, so one week before the Comelec deadline, commanders must already have secured the sworn list of registered voters under his supervision to be submitted with a sworn request to the Comelec's Committee on Local Absentee Voting," said Pasinos. Pasinos reminded PNP commanders to attach to the sworn request the information indicating therein the place and precinct number where the applying policemen are registered and the place of their assignment on election day, with a certification that the applicant is to be reassigned on election day to perform election-related duties. For his part, PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Samuel Pagdilao Jr. said the PNP encourages its members to exercise their right to vote either by going to the poll precincts on the election day or by availing of the LAV. "But beyond encouraging to vote, the PNP commanders are reminded to strictly stay apolitical by refraining from influencing their subordinates on who to vote for in the incoming May 14 elections," he said.- GMANews.TV