Police to finalize security plans for village, SK polls

Police conduct inspections at checkpoints during the 2013 barangay elections in Cebu province. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

WITH the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections all but confirmed next month, the Police Regional Office (PRO-7) will call a command conference this week to finalize security plans for Central Visayas.

“We are now on the drawing board on our deployment should the election period push through starting (this month),” said Chief Supt. Robert Quenery, PRO-7 chief in yesterday’s press conference.

Quenery said they are only waiting for word from Camp Crame on when to implement these security measures including the election gun ban.

Last March, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said the barangay and SK elections will likely push through next month despite moves for another postponement, the third following last year’s suspension.

Based on the calendar of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the election period starts with the filing of candidacies on April 14 and ends on May 21, seven days after the election day on May 14.

The filing of candidacies ends on April 20 while the campaign period starts on May 2 and ends on May 12.

The last barangay elections were held on Oct. 2013 while the last SK elections were held three years before.

“We’ve been through a lot of elections already and we have developed best practices in security. Of course we just have to adjust a little if there is a need,” Quenery told reporters.

He said they will review the internal capability of PRO-7 to enforce these security measures in their command conference.

Quenery said based on past elections there were no hot spots of election related violence in the region.