Cebu City under category “Green” this election 2022 — CCPO chief

Police Colonel Josefino Ligan, chief of Cebu City Police Office

CEBU CITY, Philippines — There is no security concern related to the upcoming elections in Cebu City but the police here will continue to intensify their visibility to avoid crime, the city’s top official said.

Police Colonel Josefino Ligan, Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) chief, in an interview, said that they categorize Cebu City as “Green” based on the data that they have from past elections in 2016 and 2019.

“Why we came up with that color is with the parameters like previous related incidents like intense political rivalries. Of the 80 barangays, there were none categorized as hotspots or election watchlist area. So overall, Cebu City is categorized as green meaning no security concern during the election,” Ligan said.

Ligan said that of the four-color categories that they have, Green has the least security concern with Red having the highest.

“Green, Yellow, we have Orange then Red. Ang pinakataas kay red. We are basing that on two previous elections that we have in 2016 and 2019,” he added.

Ligan further said that their existing number of personnel is enough to man the city before and during the election period next year.

The city has around 900 police personnel and Ligan said there is no need for an augmentation force.

“Kay we only need an augmentation kung mutaas sad ang categorization sa atong area,” Ligan said.

Apart from ensuring safety from possible crime incidents during the election period, Ligan said that included in their monitoring is also to ensure that health protocols are strictly observed since there is still a threat of COVID-19 here.

Attorney Omar Sharif Mamalinta, Cebu City election officer, for his part, reminds the city policemen to be careful and be mindful of the activities that the aspirants may do starting January 9, 2022, until June 8, 2022, the mandated election period.

In this case, Mamalinta said that they are in constant coordination with the city police in ensuring the safety of the public.

Admitting that vote buying and vote selling remain their biggest concern during the election period and that there was still no one prosecuted over the matter, Mamalinta said they will try to have one conviction this coming election if only to remind the public and politicians that they are serious in finding ways to stop vote buying here.

“Kung mamahimo man gani ning vote buying and selling, kung mahimo atong sampolan, kay murag tan-aw nato sa uban, ang uban dili na mutuo kay wala may napasakaan og kaso nga ma resolba,” Mamalinta said.

Mamalinta said he is confident that the police will also be on top of the matter.

He added that there were few instances that they were able to file charges against individuals in the previous years but still no conviction due to lack of evidence.

Ligan, for his part, said that they are continuously monitoring individuals and stores that may proliferate fake money bills in the city.

Fake money has been used in the past by politicians to buy votes.

Mamalinta also called on the public to be very vigilant against vote buying and to report to authorities whenever they can witness such illegal activity.      /rcg

READ: CCPO personnel on standby for limited in-person campaign