Lower election-related deaths as polls near: PNP

May 8, 2019

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has recorded 31 election-related incidents a few days before the 2019 midterm elections.

Based on their records of PNP-National Election Monitoring and Action Center (NEMAC), fourteen persons died while 14 were injured.

Twenty-one of the 31 validated incidents is due to shooting, two from mauling and threats while one incident each for assault, stabbing, slapping, harassment, strafing, and robbery/ grave threat.

Police General Oscar Albayalde said the numbers are lower compared to the previous 2013 and 2016 elections which are 94 and 106 incidents.

“Still a big decrease. We are not saying that we are doing good… we have to fully implement our police interventions so that hopefully there will be no increase in incidents,” he said.

In terms of election hotspots, Albayalde said there is a recommendation on placing the province of Abra under Commission on Elections control because of intense political rivalry and presence of private armed groups.

The PNP chief said he relieved a municipal police station in Abra for not manning checkpoints.

Albayalde reminds police officers not to post anything related to the election on their social media and stick to the Comelec’s 50-meter rule regarding their presence in polling centers.

“They should not enter (polling centers) without explicit permission from different electoral boards,” he said.

During the send-off ceremony last Tuesday, Albayalde said they are 100 percent ready to provide security to voters and candidates as they placed the whole organization under full alert and deployed more than 160,000 police personnel. Ella Dionisio/DMS