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SunStar: Benguet town 'loses' 40 cops to poll duty


While some areas in the Cordillera region will likely beef up police personnel, a town in Benguet province will lose nearly half of its policemen in time for the May 14 elections. SunStar Baguio reported Thursday that 40 policemen will be pulled out from La Trinidad in Benguet for deployment to other municipalities during the May 14 elections. Chief Insp. Reynaldo Pawid, head of the La Trinidad police, said this means almost half of the town’s police officers would be pulled out to augment police personnel in other localities. Pawid said the move is meant to help other towns that lack police personnel. "[But] we are not certain yet where our personnel would be stationed," he said. However, he quickly assured that La Trinidad would not fall short of security officers despite the impending pullout. "We don't foresee any problem with the pullout of our police officers to other municipalities," he said. The town has 83 police officers. The remaining personnel would man the town's 21 polling centers. Each polling station should be manned by at least one police officer, Pawid said. Police officers who would serve as security officers on Election Day are not allowed to go beyond the 50-meter radius from the polling centers. Unless the situation calls for it, they are also not allowed to enter the voting centers. - GMANews.TV

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