AFP ready for poll contingencies

Won’t take over if elections fail – Brawner
By ELENA L. ABEN
January 11, 2010, 8:43pm

A military spokesman said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is all set with its contingency plan to ensure peace and order should there be a failure of elections in May, even as he emphasized that the military will not take over the government in case of such an eventuality.

Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, Jr., AFP spokesman, said the military will do its best to ensure that the coming election pushes through.

“What our Secretary of Defense (Norberto Gonzales) and our Chief of Staff (Gen. Victor Ibrado) together with the service commanders are saying is that we will by all means make sure that this election will push through and that it will be an honest and orderly, credible election,” Brawner said in a press briefing.

“So yun ang sinusulong natin dahil narecognize po natin dito sa Armed Forces, yung kahalagahan nitong election na ito,” he added.

Brawner said as of the moment, they don’t see any reason to cancel or postpone the election. “That is why as early as now we have already put into place measures that will ensure the (holding of) elections by May.”

However, in case trouble occurs, he assured that the AFP is prepared to take action to maintain peace and order.

“As early as June, 2009 nakahanda na yung plan natin, so kasama dito yung scenario na kapag nagkagulo, let’s say dahil yung election ay nagkaroon ng failure, we will step in and we are ready,” said Brawner.

He further stated that while they already have a contingency plan, this does not include taking over the government.

“Hindi po mangyayari yun. Again we are trying our best to make sure that the election will push through and that it will be credible nang sa gayun ay yung mga uupo na opisyales ay magkakaroon ng clear mandate from the people,” he added.

Meanwhile, the AFP appealed to all military personnel to observe the nationwide firearms ban after three soldiers were among the 48 people arrested during the first day of implementation of the ban.

Brawner said the three soldiers who were arrested in separate Comelec checkpoints face administrative charges.

According to Brawner, they will let the police process the case of the three soldiers as he stressed that AFP personnel are not exempted from the ban.

PNP sees violence-free polls
The Philippine National Police (PNP) expressed optimism Monday that this year’s national polls will be “relatively more peaceful and orderly.”

PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa said they are expecting a violence-free May election following the close coordination between security forces, including the PNP, Armed Forces of the Philippines and other concerned agencies, and the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

“We think it will be relatively more peaceful than the previous elections. We see now the close coordination between the Comelec and other law enforcement agencies,” he told reporters in an ambush interview in Malacañang.

The PNP chief also attributed the expected peaceful and orderly holding of elections to the implementation of automation nationwide.

Verzosa said since the computerized election will lessen the burden for the security forces, especially during the counting, the law enforcers have the luxury of time to concentrate on their functions as directed by the Comelec. He said the poll automation would also mean less deployment of mobile personnel.

“The automated elections would lessen the chances of some unauthorized activities,” he said. (Charissa Luci)