CITY OF SAN FERNANDO –The Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine Air Force (PAF) united their forces to ensure safe and peaceful barangay elections.
In the recently concluded provincial peace and order council meeting, these three government forces vowed to protect the electorates, the candidates, and the ballots and maintain peace and order of the 505 barangays in the province.
Based on data from the Commission on Elections Pampanga, there are 1486 candidates for barangay captains and 12, 249 are running for kagawad or councilor. Approximately each village in the province has 3 or more candidates running for village chief.
There are 1, 121, 693 registered voters in the province while polling centers are 493.
Provincial Police Director Oscar Albayalde barangay election is more crucial compare to the national elections last May.
He said there are 1, 121, 693 registered voters to protect and 493 polling centers to guard.
The PPO Director added that ideally 2 or more uniformed-personnel should be deploy to each voting center to ensure peace and security of the public.
“People in the village are more concern to the barangay elections. The candidates are closer to the residents. Supporters of each candidate are neighbors. The tendency of clashes is very possible,” he said.
Commander Henry Sabarre, commander of the 703rd Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Philippines vowed to augment additional personnel to help secure polling center.
The brigade has formed 28 teams together with the air force personnel from Basa and Clark Airbase to be deployed to different areas especially those with reported cases of election-related violence in the past.
Further, the PNP Pampanga has identified 62 barangays who are considered area of concern and 2 as immediate concern.
BY JENNA LUMBANG
