Security plan for transport of election paraphernalia readied

POLICE are drawing up a security plan for the transport and movement of election paraphernalia in Central Visayas in anticipation of threats of violence.

A contingency planning session will be held in the first week of April with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Central Command, 2GO management, and the Commission on Elections (Comelec).  2GO is the official courier of election paraphernalia.

“We will sit down with Comelec and 2GO to map out the transport plan of these “accountable” and “non-accountable” forms of the election, likewise the vote counting machines and equipment,” said Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, regional director for operations of the Police Regional Office Central Visayas (PRO-7).

He said 2GO personnel would be briefed on what to do in case of any untoward incident.

“Based on the experience of previous election, not only in Central Visayas that there were instances that they were ambushed together with personnel of Comelec either going from or to the regional offices. We have to plan this out,” he said.

Security is expected to be tight especially in identified areas of concern, such as Dumanjug and Daanbantayan.

Dumanjug Mayor Nelson Garcia and Daanbantayan Mayor Augusto Corro separately said they want police to guard the election paraphernalia 24/7 as soon as these arrive in the town.

Garcia, who is seeking reelection under One Cebu, also stressed that those who guard the paraphernalia should be non-partisan. He is being challenged by Vice Mayor Efren Gica of the Liberal Party.

“The police are now labeled as such, so it’s time for them to prove they are not,” Garcia told Cebu Daily News.

Corro, for his part, hoped there will be no “hocus-pocus on election day.” Corro is seeking reelection under the Liberal Party and is being challenged by retired general Vicente Loot of the National Unity Party, an ally of One Cebu.

Cebu provincial election officer Ferdinand Gujilde assured that the automated election system is tamper-proof.

“There is nothing to fear kay ang website ra man ang na-hack, dili man ang automated election system nga maoy gamiton nato inig elections (because only the website has been hacked, not the automated election system),” he said, referring to the recent hacking incident that defaced the Comelec website.

Gujilde said the system can’t be hacked because the machines will go online only during transmission of election returns after the votes are cast on May 9.

Meanwhile, the transport of election materials will be divided into two, Lawas said.

The vote-counting machines (VCM) will be coming from Laguna and will be transported to the regional and provincial hubs here in Central Visayas, before distribution to the voting centers.

The accountable forms, including ballots and ink, will come from the National Printing Press and will be delivered to the different provincial, municipal and city treasurer’s offices.

“The transport should be secured and convoyed. Based on our initial inventory of our personnel, we will fall short. That is why we are coordinating with our counterparts from the AFP,” Lawas told reporters.

Police personnel have also been told to identify areas especially the far-flung towns that don’t have electricity and no signals for added security.

“Provincial directors were told to identify areas that are hard to reach, by pumpboat or by foot, or voting centers that can be accessed by sea. They need more personnel since they have to be transported to another place for transmission,” said Lawas.