THE Philippine National Police expects to have a better focus in its election security operations with the early release of the official list of candidates for the 2022 national and local elections as declared by the Commission on Elections.
The Comelec has announced that the target date for the ballot printing starts today (January 17), and with this, the PNP expects the election fever to heat up a notch higher.
“With the identification of the official candidates, our PNP personnel can have a clearer picture of whom to monitor in their respective areas of jurisdiction,” PNP chief General Dionardo Carlos said on Sunday.
The PNP is focusing on the background of each candidate and how this information can be related to opposing candidates.
“We need to monitor if there is tension among them waiting to be triggered. It is our proactive approach in dealing with possible election-related violence,” Carlos said, as he gave emphasis on intelligence build-up to prevent violence.
“The coming up of the election watch-list areas can be fluid given the unique political set-up in every locality,” the PNP chief also said, referring to areas that could be officially identified as towns and municipalities where election-related violence is possible, and therefore need intense monitoring and security.
The list of areas is still under deliberation by the Comelec.
The PNP said it was in constant coordination with the Comelec, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and other law enforcers to regularly exchange inputs on gathered information regarding the activities of every candidate.