SECURING BSKE. Brig. Gen. Kirby John Kraft, director of the Police Regional Office in the Caraga Region and the Commission on Elections-Caraga, leads the simultaneous launching of the establishment of checkpoints in Barangay Bancasi, Butuan City on Monday (Aug. 28, 2023). The checkpoints signal the start of the election period and the filing of the certificates of candidacy for the upcoming Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections. (Photo courtesy of PRO-13)
BUTUAN CITY – The Police Regional Office in Caraga Region (PRO-13) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec-13) have established checkpoints to mark the start of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Election (BSKE) candidacy filing here on Monday.
In this city, Brig. Gen. Kirby John Kraft, PRO-13 director, and Comelec-13 Director Francisco Pobe led the checkpoint launching of the 3rd Platoon Mobile Force Company in Barangay Bancasi at 12:01 a.m.
Major Jennifer Ometer, PRO-13 chief information officer, said 1,475 police field personnel will be involved in securing the start of the election period and the filing of COCs.
“Of the total number, 158 are now deployed to secure the different Comelec hubs in the region where the filing of COCs are being conducted while 224 are tasked to secure the transportation Comelec logistics,” Ometer said in a phone interview.
At least 75 personnel are also assigned to the different border control checkpoints in the region with military forces, while 1,018 men formed part of the quick response team, she added.
Kraft said 2,698 police personnel will be mobilized to secure the 1,349 polling centers in the region on election day on Oct. 30. At least 39 checkpoints will also be strategically established in barangays considered as election areas of concern.
“I have given my marching orders to police field officials to fully ensure that all actions taken are within the boundaries of the law and concerning human rights,” Kraft said.
PRO-13 personnel must inform the public about the purpose of Comelec checkpoints, which is to uphold security and orderliness, he added.
Hot logs seized
In a separate report Monday, the PRO-13 said a series of anti-illegal logging operations conducted from Aug. 20 to 27 by the Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB-13) resulted in the confiscation of 11,000 board feet of illegally cut forest products worth PHP250,398.
The latest operation conducted by the RMFB-13 on Sunday in Sibagat, Agusan del Sur, netted 655 pieces of Lauan lumbers with a volume of 8,793 board feet amounting to PHP175,866.
“The RMFB-13 was alerted by concerned citizens in the town on a wing van truck loaded with hot logs,” Ometer said. (PNA)
