More cops deployed in Cotabato City for poll duties

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- The Police Regional Office (PRO) 12 is set
to deploy an additional 256 police personnel here and in Cotabato City
in preparation for the May 2016 local and national elections.Sr.
Supt. Danilo Peralta, PRO-12’s human resources division chief, said
Friday the augmentation personnel comprise the regional office’s newest
batch of police recruits who have completed their basic training.He
said they specifically graduated on Thursday from the six-month
mandatory Field Training Program facilitated by the PRO-12’s Regional
Training School (RTS) here.Prior to the field training, he said the recruits underwent the six-month Public Safety Basic Recruit Course. We programmed their training in time for the start of the preparations for the 2016 elections,” Peralta said.Election-related
activities will officially begin next week with the scheduled filing of
the Certificates of Candidacy of aspirants for various elective posts
in the May 9, 2016 polls.Police and military units in the region
earlier intensified their security operations in preparation for the
filing of the COCs on Oct. 12 to 16. Peralta said 150 of the
new police personnel will be assigned in various units in this city and
the remaining 106 in Cotabato City.He said these personnel were trained for various duties before, during and after the scheduled elections.Supt.
Mario Cortes, RTS-12 director, said they specifically trained the new
police personnel on security, public safety and enforcement operations
during elections.In July, the PRO-12 hired some 277 police
personnel to fill up its initial hiring quota for this year as set by
the Philippine National Police central office.The region was
allotted 200 slots this year to fill up the personnel need of the
Regional Public Safety Battalion 77 slots for the unfilled vacancies in
last year’s quota.The
new police recruits, which are composed of 252 males and 25 females,
are currently taking up the six-month basic training at the RTS-12.