The Commission on Elections (Comelec) plans to deploy around 35,000 policemen and soldiers to serve as substitute electoral board members for the 2025 polls.
However, poll chairman George Garcia said the contingency plan will only be implemented if teachers or regular electoral board members withdraw from their duties due to security issues.
Garcia said there are areas of concern to increase security on election day, thus the need to deploy additional policemen and soldiers will be a priority.
“We want to have around 30,000 to 35,000 PNP (Philippine National Police) personnel and other military personnel, for example, just to ensure we have standby support,” Garcia said.
The Comelec chief did not disclose the potential election hotspots where they target to deploy the armed personnel.
“I don’t want to pinpoint the specific areas where we plan to deploy or have them on standby because we don’t want to create a scenario where people in those areas might think their area is problematic. That is not the truth,” Garcia said.
He said however, that he doesn't want a similar incident during the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections when more than 2,500 teachers backed out from their duties as poll watchers.
Some of the teachers cited fear and intimidation as reasons for withdrawal.
Meanwhile, Garcia said around 300,000 teachers will be trained as electoral board members in February 2025.
