Pangasinan PNP: We’re ready for polls
ONLY 7 AREAS IN WATCH LIST
THE Pangasinan Police will organize several Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs) to respond to any emergency situations in any town and city prior to and during the election even as the number of towns with intense political rivalries have increased.
This was contained in a briefing conducted by P/Colonel Wilson Lopez on the readiness of the Pangasinan Police in the coming mid-term election during a command conference at Camp Oscar Florendo in La Union before P/General Oscar Albayalde and top PNP officials on April 9.
Albayalde fields questions from media.
During a press conference held later, Albayalde said no town or city in Pangasinan has been placed under the red category in this election unlike in La Union where there are two.
In his briefing, Lopez said the QRTs that will be deployed in Pangasinan during the election will come from the ranks of Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Police Mobile Force Company and the Regional Mobile Force Battalion.
Lopez named the towns of Bayambang and Urbiztondo as additional special areas of concern identified by the PNP and the Commission on Elections due to continued intense political rivalries by their candidates.
Earlier named as special areas of concern also due to intense political rivalries are Balungao, Rosales, Dagupan City and Sto. Tomas. San Manuel was also added although no intense political rivalry is noted, it has history of political violence in past elections.
Lopez said the police will give special focus on Sto. Tomas town but he did not elaborate.
It was in Sto. Tomas where the town’s vice mayor, a candidate for municipal mayor, was assassinated in front of the church by suspected guns-for-hire.
Nevertheless, Lopez said Pangasinan remains peaceful and orderly with no private armies or organized armed groups whatsoever.
But he admitted having placed potential groups under surveillance that may have been hired by politicians to terrorize the voters before and during the election.
In the 2016 election, according to Lopez, 17 towns and cities were placed under Elections Watch List Areas (EWAS) compared to only seven this year.
At the same time.
he said, daily checkpoint operations are conducted in all 48 towns and cities
in Pangasinan and these he pointed out resulted in the arrest of 120
persons for gun-ban violation and confiscation of firearms, ammunition and
deadly weapons from January 13 to date.
He said the police
assistance desks will be posted several meters away from voting centers to
ensure that all election laws and rules will be adequately implemented. (Leonardo
Micua)
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