NATIONAL POLICE chief Guillermo T. Eleazar directed all units and area commanders on Thursday to start planning security measures for the May 2022 polls to ensure the safety and integrity of the electoral process.
“Along with the heated discussion on next year’s elections, I have instructed all our area commanders to begin preparations to ensure clean and orderly elections in our country,” Mr. Eleazar said in Filipino in a news release.
Among the measures to be taken are monitoring the presence of loose firearms, track guns with expired licenses, and be on alert for the formation of private armed groups.
In a press statement in June, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo M. Año warned that private armed groups usually emerge during the campaign period for fund-raising or threaten political rivals.
“We have to make sure that they would be denied of this illegal activity, so it is really important that we start early to study and anticipate any threat to the elections next year,” Mr. Eleazar said.
According to Mr. Año, the military is currently addressing seven private armed groups in the western part of Mindanao and monitoring the possible emergence of around 126 armed groups in northern Luzon, and the eastern and western Visayas. — Bianca Angelica D. Añago