LINGAYEN—The declaration of three out of four provinces in Region 1, including Pangasinan, as “high-risk” areas for the May 2013 elections by the Department of Interior and Local Government did not surprise Superintendent Franklin Jesus Bucayu.

Bucayu, the police regional director for Region 1, said he is accepting the list and using it as a challenge for the police to “perform better” on the peace and order situation.

In Pangasinan, he said they are monitoring two private armed groups to make sure that they stop operating.

Aside from Pangasinan, the provinces of La Union and Ilocos Sur are included in the high-risk list.

“All we’re trying to do now is make preparation to make the elections really be safe ,” he told reporters while on a visit here last week.

One of the first steps that the police will take is hold initial with local government officials.

“If there is political rivalry, (it) should not spell violence and voters could vote for whom they think is the best official,” Bucayu said.

A review of the current deployment of police security escorts to some elected officials will also be reviewed and a report will be submitted to the Police Security Protection Office in Camp Crame.

BPAT

At the same time, Bucayu said they will be tapping the Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT), among other groups, to ensure a safe and fair election.

Bucayu already held separate meetings with BPAT members in six towns of La Union and one in Pangasinan last week.

The meetings tackled the role of the BPATs in helping secure the elections and in crime prevention even before the elections.

There were 52 BPAT members, including the town chief of police, who attended the meeting in Umingan, Pangasinan.

In La Union, 982 members of BPATs from the towns of Agoo, Pogo, Tubao, Aringay, Sto. Tomas and Rosario, together with the chiefs of police of these towns, met with Bucayu.

“Our aim is to strengthen police-community partnership in combating the lawless elements and seek to empower all stakeholders to share responsibility of peacekeeping especially that we’re nearing to the election period,” Bucayu said.

He also cited the important role of the BPATs in information gathering, traffic management, checkpoints, and order maintenance, among others.

BPATs are prime movers of Barangay Peacekeeping Operations under the supervision of the designated police officer in the barangay as mandated under Letter of Instruction 22/09 “Bayanihan” from the Philippine National Police higher headquarters. —with report from Eva Visperas

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