May 9: Election Coverage Orientation

It's four days before the 2013 National and Local Elections. The Inquirer Editorial Team puts premium on the first and fearless reporting for the most important coverage of the year, that's why a full-force meeting was conducted with the editors, writers, interns, and student volunteers.

At the election coverage briefing with co-scholars and Inquirer interns.

But before the 3 pm meeting, I managed to have a little legwork and submitted a simple article for the day.

by Mariejo Mariss Ramos

The Eastern Police District (EPD) will implement maximum deployment for May 13 polls to ensure peaceful elections in its four priority cities.

Psupt. Darwin Miranda, EPD Chief of Operations, said that a total of 1046 police personnel are already set to perform election duties such as guarding the PCOS machines in different voting areas in Pasig, Marikina, Mandaluyong and San Juan.

Regional headquarters are also tapped to augment the needed number of police personnel for polling safety and anti-criminality efforts.

“Although the 2010 elections was peacefully done, we still have to be fully prepared for possibilities of violence and election sabotage on May 13,” Miranda said.

According to Miranda, the absence of election hotspots in EPD will not impede the police force to be more vigilant in areas with large voting population, such as Brgy. Pinagbuhatan in Pasig City.

A Joint Security Assistance Desk under the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police was also set up to ensure centralized communication in district monitoring come Monday.

Police officers deployed 50 meters away from the voting precincts can be alerted by the Board of Election Inspectors for instances of violence and disorder.

The Public Safety Department of local government units (LGUs), together with non-government organizations (NGOs) and barangay security force (BSF), are set to help in protecting the polling centers and ensuring the smooth flow of traffic in roads.

Miranda mentioned that the police district is now fully prepared for the midterm polls, citing their round-the-clock efforts to guard the PCOS and to make sure that these voting machines will run without glitches on election day.

“Thee EPD has zero incidence of election-related violence. We follow strict implementation of Comelec laws and city ordinances. Matagal na kaming handa.” said Miranda, with assurance that their preparations are enough for the midterm polls on Monday.