Brigadier General Debold Sinas. | CDN FIle
Cebu City, Philippines—The Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) will remain in full alert until all election-related paraphernalia will be returned to the national office of the Comelec.
Brigadier General Debold Sinas, director of PRO-7, said in a press briefing on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, that the police will now focus on the transport of these paraphernalia to the warehouses of each province in Central Visayas .
Once they are all collected, the paraphernalia will be turned over to the national headquarters.
All items used during the elections last May 13, have already been turned over to the city/municipality’s respective treasurer’s office, according to records from the Regional Election Monitoring Action Center.
“Hulaton sa namo, kay after sa counting, ang mga election returns kase ani, dad-on sa treasurer’s office dayon sa hub,” said Sinas.
(We will wait because after the counting, all election returns will be turned over to the treasurer’s office, then to the hub.)
Sinas said that police operations will normalize once these materials are returned safely to the national headquarters.
Once returned, police assigned to escort the transport will be redeployed to their respective original assignments.
Meanwhile, police detailed in voting centers have reported back to the regional office on May 13, and is scheduled to return to their original assignments on Thursday, May 16.
The Cebu Provincial Police Office earlier deployed at least 2,000 policemen to secure voting centers and canvassing venues.
Police Colonel Royina Garma, chief of Cebu City Police Office, said that her forces have already started their break since their return yesterday.
“Deployment of personnel will be tomorrow, 100 percent. May makikita ninyo na yung mga outpost natin, may ilalagay na mga police diyan,” said Garma.
(You will see that our outposts will be manned with police personnel again.) /bmjo