The Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) will be deploying some one thousand three hundred fifty-four law enforcers and force multipliers to ensure peace and order during the conduct of the October 30, 2023 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) and the commemoration of All Saint’s Day and All Souls Day on November 1 and 2, 2023.
BCPO City Director Police Col. Francisco Bulwayan, Jr. said that 653 law enforcers will be deployed in the various polling centers established in the different parts of the city before and during the BSKE to help in securing the voters, the members of the board of election inspectors, volunteers among others and to guarantee law and order in the conduct of the polls.
However, he claimed that the number of force multipliers that will be tapped to assist the law enforcers during the BSKE is still being ascertained by the local police force to ensure that the manpower that will be needed will be the ones that will be readily available.
The BCPO official added that the liquor ban starting 12:01 am of October 29 until 11:59 pm of October 30, 2023 in time for the BSKE will be strictly implemented in the city as part of the initiatives to ensure the maintenance of law and order during the conduct of the elections.
According to him, more than 600 police personnel will performing their regular duties and responsibilities in the various police offices and stations around the city to respond to the needs of people seeking assistance for whatever purpose to guarantee the continuous presence of the police inside and outside the offices.
On the other hand, Bulwayan revealed that some 701 police personnel and force multipliers will also be deployed in the 12 public and private cemeteries around the city before and during All Saints Day and All Souls Day to assist people who will be visiting their departed loved ones and to man the smooth flow of traffic along roads leading to the said cemeteries among other related duties and responsibilities.
Of the said number of individuals that will be deployed, 496 are organic members of the BCPO, 156 belong to volunteer organizations which had been assisting the local government in similar endeavors in the past and 49 are police personnel that are undergoing schooling.
He explained that what the local police force need are volunteers or force multipliers that have experiences on communication, traffic management and emergency response so that they can be appropriately deployed in areas around the city that actually require their presence and services to help in crowd control in the public and private cemeteries and even in the polling centers.