Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO)
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The collaboration of the different law enforcement agencies here resulted in the “massive” drop in the number of crimes that were committed in Cebu province during the May 2022 local campaign period.
From March 25, which is the official start of the local campaign season, until May 10, the day after the elections, the Cebu Police Provincial Office only recorded a total of 150 crimes.
These were way lower than the 639 crimes that were recorded during the same period in 2019 and the 563 crimes reported during the same period in 2016.
None of the crimes reported in this year’s local campaign season were also election-related.
“Ang insidente nga natala, specifically election related incidents, wala gyud ta sa atoang AOR. In fact, based sa feedback sa mga tawo, it is the safest election ang nahitabo sa Cebu province,” Police Lieutenant Colonel Mark Gifter Sucalit, deputy director for operations of CPPO, said.
(Based on the incidents that we recorded within our AOR (Area of Responsibility), none of these were election-related. In fact, based on the feedback that we received from people, this was the safest election that happened in Cebu province.)
Sucalit said that the crimes reported also happened in different parts of Cebu province, an indication that these were isolated cases.
Focus Crimes
Data released by CPPO show that theft topped the number of focus crimes that were reported in Cebu province from March 25 to May 10, 2022, with a total of 55.
This was followed by physical injuries with 30, robbery – 23, rape – 22, murder – 12, homicide – 4, motorcycle theft – 3, and carnapping – 1.
See table below:
The Cebu Police Provincial Office recorded a massive drop in the number of crime incidents in the province along with the 2022 polls observance. | Photo from CPPO page
Sucalit credit the collaboration that they had with the different candidates and other government agencies, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Navy, and the Commission on Elections, for the safe and successful conduct of the May 9 national and local elections.
He said the presence of augmentation teams also allowed men in uniform to be visible in the entire province of Cebu, an important deterrent to election-related crimes.
CPPO received an augmentation of 406 police personnel consisting of trainees coming from the Regional Training Center in Consolacion town and cops assigned at the Police Regional Office (PRO-7).
Areas of Concern
The deployment of augmentation team members ahead of the May 9 elections also helped ensure peace and order, especially in the seven areas of concern that were earlier identified by Comelec.
These are Daanbantayan; Madridejos in Bantayan Island; Bogo City; Poro, Tudela and San Francisco in Camotes Island; and San Fernando town in southern Cebu.
READ: Comelec names 7 ‘areas of concern’ in Cebu
Post-Election Activities
After the elections on May 9, Sucalit said, they received information on the plan of some supporters to hold post-election rallies in localities listed as among the areas of concern, but these were called off.
“Walay rally nahitabo, only pagpundok pundok. Sa pagkuha nato og information, ato dayun gi deployan og pwersa. Basically na pre empt gyud,” Sucalit added.
(Plans to hold post-election rallies did not push through, instead they just had a gathering of some supporters. Upon receipt of information, we immediately deployed our troops. Basically, we were able to pre-empt any protest action.)
Earlier, Police Colonel Engelbert Soriano, the CPPO director, said they will start the recall of the police augmentation teams on Friday, May 13, 2022, so that these personnel could already return to their mother units.
READ: PRO-7 chief to CV cops: ‘maximum tolerance’ in handling election protest rallies
/dcb