PNP takes over election boards of 175 Cotabato polling precincts

Philippine National Police personnel are running the election processes of 175 clustered precincts in Cotabato City due to “matters of security” during the conduct of the May 9 local and national polls.

In a press conference, Commission on Elections (Comelec) acting spokesperson Atty. John Rex Laudiangco admitted that one of the factors prompting the PNP to take over was the substitution of the poll workers in the city.

“Isa ‘yung perceived threat, wala naman pong actually na nasaktan sa electoral boards or na-threaten but they perceived threats to their persons. They manifested na po to our officials that they opted not to serve. Automatically, nagdesisyon ang aming officials doon to replace them with the PNP personnel,” he said.

(Even though no one among the electoral board members was actually hurt or threatened, they perceived threats to their persons. In their manifestation, they said they have decided not to serve in the polls. Thus, local poll officials replaced them with PNP personnel.)

Citing the Election Service Reform Act, Laudiangco said that PNP personnel are allowed to serve as electoral board members if there are matters of security and emergency.

“Batas po ito mismo, hindi lang basta resolusyon ng Comelec (this is a law, not just a Comelec resolution),” he pointed out. 

Meanwhile, PNP officer-in-charge Police Lieutenant General Vicente Danao, Jr. said there are five PNP personnel ordered by the Comelec to perform duty as members of the electoral board in Barangay Talitay Pikit, Cotabato, as of Sunday.

“Magiging lubos na tagapag-matyag ang ating kapulisan upang hadlangan ang anumang uri ng kaguluhan at katiwalian sa gaganaping halalan,” he said in a separate press conference.

[Our police personnel are ready to prevent possible acts of violence and corruption in the conduct of elections.)

Earlier, tension gripped the process of transporting the vote counting machines (VCMs) to the different polling precincts in Cotabato City, causing a delay in the delivery of over 90 units of the election device.

PNP spokesperson Police Colonel Jean Fajardo claimed on Sunday that several men allegedly threw rocks at their personnel and tried to hold them back from transporting the VCMs.

Last Thursday, Cotabato City Mayor Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi said the  teachers rose up in protest after their names were removed from the list of electoral board members, and replaced with other educators who did not undergo training for the election tasks.

She claimed that the office of the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education of the BARMM first replaced the superintendent before removing the teachers, and that the ministry was allegedly the one dictating on the election officer in making the list of electoral board members. —LBG, GMA News