AFP to go on red alert status in preparation for elections

Starting Friday, the Philippines’ Armed Forces will go on a nationwide red alert — its highest security status — in preparation for the upcoming May polls, a military spokesperson said Monday. Declared ten days ahead of the polls, the red alert status will remain hoisted until May 20, Col. Ricardo Nepomuceno of the military’s Task Force Honest, Orderly and Peaceful Elections (HOPE) told reporters on Monday. “We want to be prepared, especially since that [period] covers the time of the delivery of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines. We want to make sure that we are monitoring what’s happening to the PCOS," he said. All military officers are required to be on their posts at all times upon declaration of a red alert status. The Commission on Elections (Comelec), through three forwarding companies, started delivering the poll machines to precincts in the Visayas and Mindanao earlier this month. More than half of the PCOS machines have been brought to their respective hubs, the poll body announced Monday. “We are monitoring that (transport of the PCOS machines) but the responsibility of the transportation lies with the Comelec-designated forwarders but we are assisting them. We are securing them," said Nepomuceno. Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales had earlier placed the Armed Forces at the full disposal of the Comelec to ensure the peaceful conduction of elections in May. — GMANews.TV