Robert C. Dejon | March 3, 2022
Two hundred and thirty (230) policemen will be sent to Samar, particularly Calbayog City, to intensify security in the city in the upcoming National and Local Elections.
Newly-installed PRO-8 Regional Director Police Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac disclosed that recent shooting incidents in Calbayog City and its neighboring municipalities within the Samar 1st Congressional District prompted his office to augment personnel to beef-up the security in the area.
Gen. Banac however refused to consider Calbayog an election hotspot and clarify that the move is to send assurance to everyone that the police are up and ready to address all possible eventualities. Intensifying police presence will also deescalate tension and untoward incidents as the elections drew near.
"The decision to declare an area as election hotspot is with the COMELEC, and so far wala pa tayong election hotspot, and the deployment of additional troops in Samar is just to strengthen our security measures against criminality, preventive actions ito dahil nga sa ilang insidente during the past weeks", Banac said.
The deployment of the additional 230 personnel will start on March 1 and will be under the Regional Special Operations Task Group - Samar (RSOTG-Samar) whose operations will be directly supervised by the PRO-8 thru Deputy Regional Director for Operations Police Col. Jonathan Cabal.
The areas to be given emphasis by the RSOTG-Samar are Calbayog City, Gandara, Santa Margarita and San Jorge or the previously coined CAGASMAS.
Earlier this month, the Philippine Army also deployed a battalion of soldiers - courtesy of the 3rd Infantry Battalion (3IB) of the 7th Infantry Division in Mindanao - to Samar, purportedly to face-off with Private Armed Groups (PAGs).
Most of these soldiers are now stationed and jointly working with the PNP in the province's first Congressional district.
Despite the series of shootings and killings in Samar's first Congressional district in the past weeks, RD Banac clarified that none of those are directly associated as election-related.
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