CPPO chief: Accessibility in mountain areas a challenge during May 9 polls

Police Colonel Engelbert Soriano, chief of Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO), said that it was hard for them to respond to some mountain areas in the province due to difficult roadway.

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Accessibility in areas for better and quicker response is something that the Cebu provincial police would need to prepare for the next elections.

This was the assessment of Police Colonel Engelbert Soriano, director of the Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO). That is despite a 76.5 percent decrease in the number of crime incidents in the province since the start of the local campaign or from March 25 to May 10, 2022.

READ: CPPO reports drop in crime volume during campaign period 

Soriano said that they would need to improve their response time, especially in the mountain barangays with difficult roadways.

“Yung difficulty sa mga responses pagka may mga reports kami na narereceive na may alleged harassment and vote buying sa area. Nagrerespond kami and malalayo yung mga mountain barangays talaga, and yung problem sa road marami rin,” Soriano said.

(The difficulty in responding on reports we received of alleged harassment and vote buying in an area. We responded and the mountain barangays were quite far and the bad roads there were a problem.)

Soriano said that these would be the areas that they would need to study further on how to address the residents’ concerns.

Regarding reports where police were tagged in alleged fraud of the election results or those who had won and lost in the election, Soriano said that police had no hold in this.

“Ang PNP ay  involved sa elections. Unang una kami man ang in charge sa security with the help of other uniformed services,” Soriano said.

(The PNP is involved in the elections. First and foremost, we are in charge of security with the help of other uniformed services.)

“In terms of pagkapanalo and pagkatalo ng candidates, wala namang kinalaman ang pulis doon…Bawal dumikit-dikit sa kandidato, very strict ang Comelec pagdating participation ng PNP, talagang peace and order lang,” he added.

(In terms of winning and losing of the candidates, the police don’t have any involvement in that…It is prohibited to be linked to a candidate. The Comelec is very strict when it comes to the PNP participation and it should just be for peace and order.)

Their might be agitations from the losing candidates, Soriano said that this was normal and that ‘time would heal’ this

Also, Soriano said that they were on top of the situation in Cordova town where supporters of outgoing Mayor Mary Therese “Teche”  Sitoy-Cho gathered outside the town’s hall on May 16, 2022.

These supporters voiced their concerns on alleged massive cheating that allegedly happened during the May 9 elections.

For now, Soriano said that he already directed the station commander of the Cordova Police Station to ensure a peaceful assembly today and if there would be any, also in the coming days.

Earlier, the CPPO said that they had only recorded 150 incidents in Cebu province from March 25 to May 10, 2022.

He said that their collaboration with other agencies was a huge factor in the success of the elections.

Soriano said that the province would remain in full alert status until further notice from the national headquarters.

However, 406 policemen, who augmented local policemen, were already pulled out from their respective assigned areas since Friday, May 13.

At least 2000 police personnel were assigned in Cebu province to secure May 9 polls.

READ: PRO-7 chief to CV cops: ‘Maximum tolerance’ in handling election protest rallies