By Jennifer P. Rendon
The Police Regional Office 6 deployed 1,528 police officers after an official accounting of personnel on Tuesday, May 6, at Camp Delgado in Iloilo City.
Brig. Gen. Jack Wanky, Western Visayas police chief, said the officers will augment the Antique Police Provincial Office and the Iloilo Police Provincial Office.
Only the two provincial offices received augmentation forces due to a shortage of personnel needed for election duties.
Of the 1,528 officers, 388 were assigned to Antique while 1,140 were deployed to Iloilo.
Wanky said 361 of the 388 officers assigned to Antique are newly recruited police personnel.
He added that other provinces in the region have a surplus of officers and therefore did not require additional deployment.
As required by the Commission on Elections, two police officers must be assigned to every voting center.
There are 2,854 voting centers across Western Visayas.
Wanky said PRO-6 has maximized its resources to meet election security requirements.
“I even assigned my own security team, and 70 to 80 percent of our regional headquarters personnel have also been deployed,” he said.
He added that standby forces are in place for anti-criminality operations during the election period.
Wanky reminded all officers to strictly follow Philippine National Police guidelines and protocols.
“We are among those expected to ensure a successful election,” he said.
“Our actions must remain apolitical—we must not show bias,” he added.
He also reminded officers not to engage in political conversations unless asked to assist.
“We are prohibited from giving comments or personal opinions about politics,” he said.
Wanky emphasized the importance of professionalism and staying focused on their responsibilities.
“You will be held accountable if something happens to the vote counting machines,” he warned.
He said their ultimate goal is to achieve zero crime incidents during the election.
“We’ve done it before, even when our jurisdiction was larger,” he said, referring to the previous inclusion of Negros Occidental and Bacolod City in Region 6.
The augmentation forces will return to their original units once the election process concludes in their assigned areas.
