After Labor Day protests, cops still on heightened alert

After dealing with militant workers marking Labor Day Saturday, police stay on heightened alert status for the last week of the campaign period. In Manila, radio dzBB’s Carlo Mateo on Sunday said the Manila Police District (MPD) ordered its men to maintain heightened alert status for the May 10 polls. MPD head Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay said he expects police to maintain their intensified checkpoint and patrol operations as the campaign period peaks. As earlier announced by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the last day of the campaigns is on Saturday, May 8. There will be no more campaigning on the eve of the elections. Meanwhile, a poll watchdog group has said it will meet in Manila on Monday for final preparations and briefing of their poll watchers. Kontra Daya has set a meeting at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila to discuss monitoring guidelines to cope with various scenarios on Election Day. “Our information technology (IT) experts and online media volunteers meanwhile will explain the online mapping of incidents of poll irregularities so that we can see the nationwide trends," convener Fr. Jose Dizon said in an article on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines news site. He said the monitoring guide will let people “monitor and report on the conduct of the elections." Dizon said many uncertainties, glitches and problems remain unaddressed, despite Comelec’s assurances that systems are in place for the polls. “With enough information, we can determine our next course of action, should there be signs of election failure, fraud, massive disenfranchisement, poll violence and other irregularities," Dizon said. — LBG, GMANews.TV