IT’S still a year before the 2020 presidential, national and local elections but the Philippine National Police is already preparing to ensure a safe, honest and orderly polls amid the new normal brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, PNP chief General Debold M. Sinas told the Journal Group on Monday.

“That’s always our action and we are already preparing for that big event. Actually, it will be the focus of the incoming Chief,PNP,” said Gen. Sinas who will be retiring from the force this coming Saturday.

The outgoing PNP chief said that they are also monitoring the ongoing registration of voters in the country which will end in September.

“The Directorate for Operations is already preparing for that (2022 polls). Actually, we have vast experience on how to secure an election. We only improve our measures based on the current situation, particularly now that we have a pandemic,” Gen. Sinas said.

If the pandemic continues until next year, officials say they expect some major changes in the way candidates will campaign and the how the voting will be conducted since social distancing will always be the norm to stop the further spread of the deadly virus.

The PNP chief said they are looking at their experience in securing the Palawan plebiscite last March 13 as they prepare for next year’s polls, starting from the filing of candidacies, the campaign period and the actual elections.

“We are studying the Palawan plebiscite and seeing how can we further enhance our measures there. Our staff is already studying it and rest assured that the PNP is already starting its preparations for the elections next year,” Gen. Sinas said.

As part of the preparation, all PNP regional offices and other national operational support units have already stepped-up their campaign against illegal firearms and partisan armed groups which may be used to sow trouble during the polling period.

PNP Deputy Chief for Administration and concurrent Administrative Support for Joint COVID-19 Task Force commander Lieutenant Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar was the PNP Officer-in-Charge during the Palawan plebiscite since Gen. Sinas went on isolation then after catching the virus.

Lt. Gen. Eleazar said that while there were some difficulties encountered in the delivery of election materials to polling centers due to transportation and weather issues and minor problems in the relay of information due to poor signal reception and bad weather condition, the local plebiscite to ratify Republic Act 11259 in the province of Palawan last March 13 was generally peaceful and orderly with no untoward incident reported.

Eleazar disclosed that a PNP-COMELEC-AFP Joint Task Force was activated composed of police units from the Palawan Police Provincial Office, Puerto Princesa City Police Office, PNP Maritime Group and Regional Mobile Force Battalion of MIMAROPA and military units from the AFP Western Command and Philippine Coast Guard during the special plebiscite in Palawan.

The PNP deployed a total of 920 police personnel to provide security to registered voters and election officials in 487 polling centers in 367 barangay of the 23 municipalities across mainland Palawan and the island municipalities. The voters said No to a move to divide the province into three.

“Local communist terrorist groups and its front organizations and other domestic threat groups were effectively rendered immobile by proactive security measures, and were actively prevented from engaging in any form of prohibited actions that threatened the otherwise peaceful and orderly plebiscite”, Lt. Gen. Eleazar said then.

“Because of the COVID 19 pandemic, the biggest challenge that we faced is the compliance to IATF protocols during mass gatherings which include the expected crowds in the voting process. To address this, we crafted a New Normal Physical Response together with the COMELEC to ensure physical distancing and smooth flow of the voters,” the official said.