MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, May 16 (PIA) --- The joint forces of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) assigned in the province played a vital role in minimizing election-related violence in the province.
Col. Glenn Macasero, commanding officer of the 103rd Infantry Brigade, said the conduct of the 2013 mid-term polls in the province on Monday has been generally peaceful.
Amid few isolated incidents, the elections in the entire province were successful and that all the municipalities in the province have not reported failure of elections, he said.
According to him, the success was due to the timely response of reaction forces in areas where tensions were reported.
The orderly elections could also be attributed to the presence of policewomen in the polling centers.
The PNP has deployed one provisional female company to the province to assist in ensuring the safe conduct of elections.
Police Chief Superintendent Noel Delos Reyes, PNP Regional Director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the move was based on past experiences where some of the election-related irregularities and disturbances were initiated by female voters.
He said it would be difficult for policemen to respond to incidents involving female voters considering the culture in the province, hence, the deployment of policewomen.
Meanwhile, Police Chief Inspector Eden Agsuay, overall company commander of the provisional female company, said the 110 trained policewomen from Parang, Maguindanao were able to respond immediately and ease tensions in their assigned areas.
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