GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines – Maguindanao del Sur’s officials called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to make police officers from outside the Bangsamoro region serve as workers in polling places in election hotspots in the province this October.

In a resolution passed on Tuesday, September 5, the Maguindanao del Sur Peace and Order Council asked that the Comelec and PNP consider deploying police officers from the neighboring Soccsksargen region instead of teachers to serve as members of the board of election inspectors in at least eight towns of the province during the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.

There are at least eight towns in the province that have been designated as areas of concern or places where election-related violence are likely. The Maguindanao del Sur towns are the following:

• Pagalungan
• Rajah Buayan
• Datu Paglas
• Pandag
• Datu Piang
• Sultan sa Barongis
• Datu Salibo
• Buluan

Maguindanao del Sur falls under the jurisdiction of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Maguindanao del Sur Governor Mariam Mangudadatu, the council’s chairperson, said she and other officials were worried because they learned that only more than 500 of the 1,047 police officers in the province are currently serving.

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“The others are in schooling and training, and the situation cannot wait for them,” Mangudadatu said.

She said there was a pressing need to enhance security during the elections, particularly in the identified eight hotspots.

Pandag Mayor Mohajeran Balayman said the police officers can either come from the Davao or Soccsksargen regions to avoid familiarity between candidates and law enforcers.

“This would also help address the problem of an inadequate number of policemen in the BARMM,” Balayman said.

BARMM police chief Brigadier General Allan Nobleza said the PNP would deploy a minimum of 300 police officers trained as poll workers to each province in the Bangsamoro region during the October elections.

Nobleza said the police officers will be on standby mode in case there is a need for them to step in and serve as poll clerks, such as when the public school teachers are unable to perform their duties in the election precincts due to peace and order issues.

He said the Comelec-trained police officers will be among the quick reaction teams that the police will deploy in places designated as areas of concern, categorized as red for areas of grave concern, orange for immediate concern, and yellow for security concern.

Nobleza said the move will be part of the contingency measures they have long planned, foreseeing a worst-case scenario during the elections in the Bangsamoro region. – Rappler.com