7,000 cops to be trained as Eleksyon 2025 poll workers
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The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will train at least 7,000 police officers to serve as backup poll workers for the 2025 national and local elections (NLE), replacing teachers who may withdraw as election registration board (ERB) members.
“We will be training more or less 7,000 from the Philippine National Police (PNP) to serve as the back-up ERBs just in case the regular members of the electoral board will not be able to serve in the elections,” Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said Friday.
Garcia noted that this is not the first time police officers have been deployed as election board members. In the 2022 elections, PNP personnel managed the voting process in 175 clustered precincts in Cotabato City due to security concerns.
“Ginawa na yan dati sa Cotabato City. Lahat ng electoral members hindi nag-serve noong 2022. Buti mayroon kaming DOST-certified na PNP personnel na para mag-serve as members of the electoral board,” he said.
(This was done before in Cotabato City, where no ERB members served in 2022. Thankfully, we had PNP personnel certified by the Department of Science and Technology to step in.)
He also warned against any attempts to intimidate election board members, stating, “‘Yung mag-aattempt… na tatakutin ang electoral board members o gagawa ng paraan para hindi makapag-report, pasensyahan tayo. May PNP kami na ire-reserve para makapag-serve kaagad.”
(Anyone trying to threaten ERBs or prevent them from reporting will be met with our reserved PNP personnel, ready to serve immediately.)
According to Comelec, training sessions for both police personnel and ERB members will take place from March 3 to March 31, 2025. — DVM, GMA Integrated News
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