By Jennifer P. Rendon
A few days before the May 9, 2022 national and local elections, the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) declared that it would intensify police visibility in a bid to prevent election fraud.
For Colonel Adrian Acollador, Iloilo police director, heightened police presence through checkpoint operations is one way to avert election fraud, like vote buying activities.
Acollador has directed all chiefs of police and mobile force commanders to intensify random checkpoint and chokepoint operations to ward off activities such as vote buying, vote selling, and harassment.
He said the more than 1,600 augmentation personnel for IPPO would be a big help to strengthen various security measures for the elections.
The IPPO on Wednesday, May 4, had a pre-deployment orientation seminar to PNP personnel who would be manning the polling centers.
During the send-off ceremony, Acollador stressed to all personnel to remain non-partisan and to ensure that registered voters are free, safe and secure to exercise their right to suffrage.
To date, the IPPO said it received no formal report or complaint on vote buying, though monitoring of social media revealed some netizens posting information concocting a vote buying scenario.
Acollador has enjoined the public to immediately report to police station any incident of vote buying and vote selling so that appropriate action could be taken against persons perpetuating election fraud.
