THE police will increase their visibility during the start of the campaign period this week to ease the tension leading up to the national elections on May 9, an official said Monday.
National Police Chief Ricardo Marquez said his men had been placed on heightened alert during the start of the campaign period on March 25, Good Friday.
“We will increase the police presence and focus on ground operations,” Marquez said.
The Philippine National Police recorded 20 people killed in election-related violence in the 2010 elections.
Marquez decided to order increased police presence days after the communist rebels went on a bombing attack in 11 areas in Masbate, which is considered an election hotspot.
The PNP has asked the Commission on Elections to coordinate with the members of the Joint Security Control Center to formulate a security plan.
The JSCC is tasked to formulate plans for intensified law enforcement and to neutralize private armed groups.
Marquez said police operatives started going after private armed groups in Masbate a week following the deployment of 100 members of the Special Action Force on the island.
Aside from Masbate, the PNP is also assessing if it will declare Nueva Ecija as an election hotspot following the violence there during the 2010 elections.