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| Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office Director PCol. Christopher Panapan urges the public to cooperate with the security sector to ensure a peaceful 2022 election. (Michael John Paclar/PIA-Lanao del Sur) |
MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur--The Philippine National Police (PNP) here in the province strongly urged the public to cooperate with the authorities, much more with the security sector, with the national and local elections drawing near.
Lanao del Sur Police Provincial Office Director PCol. Christopher Panapan stressed that while his personnel alongside the military will do their best to assure the orderliness of the situation during the day, the success and peace of the elections will still depend significantly on the effort of the residents impacting the conduct of the activity, whether or not they will be up for chaos brought by their feelings for some candidates.
He emphasized that what causes disorder in Lanao del Sur are mostly the residents themselves, thus, the call for their partnership with the security forces, and the urge to start within themselves the peace they desire to be upheld in the event proper.
Panapan further conveyed that it is time for the coming polls to manifest a change through having no record of failure of elections.
“It is not the sole responsibility of the security sector. Remember, security is everybody’s concern. If we seek protection, we should also protect ourselves… Kailangan natin magcooperate at magkaisa tayo. Ipakita natin na ang Lanao del Sur ay nagbago na at pagdating ng eleksyon, hindi na gaya noong mga nakaraan na eleksyon na mayroong failure of elections. Dapat itong eleksyon natin na darating comes May 9, dapat maging successful at mapayapa,” he said.
We need to cooperate and unite. Let us show that Lanao del Sur has changed and during the elections, it is not the same as in the past when there was a failure of elections. The elections on May 9 must be successful and peaceful.]
Panapan earlier stated that they have already prepared their deployment plan for the security of their area but its finality was affected by a letter issued by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) requesting special electoral boards considering that some of the teachers refused to be at service.
As such, some PNP personnel has to be trained accordingly to serve in place of the declining teachers, which will entail a consequence in their initial deployment plan.
“The PNP and AFP can secure Lanao del Sur. But, the COMELEC has sent us a letter with regards to the problem of the electoral boards. Kapag iyong personnel natin magseserve as electoral boards, mavavacate kung saan sila nakadeploy to serve as security [If our personnel will serve as electoral boards, where they will be supposed to be deployed to serve as security personnel would be vacated]. So, we need augmentation. For sure, our regional office will augment us here in Lanao del Sur,” said Panapan.
Additional challenges cited by the provincial director were the communication signal and the power supply, noting that the elections will be spearheaded until 7:00 in the evening.
He underscored that they will look into this and be given attention as these will still contribute to the whole process.
Panapan said currently the PNP here has not yet recorded election-related incidents. (CRG/PIA-Lanao del Sur)
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