PNP All Set for Elections, Keenly Watching 'Hot Spots'

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Byline: MIKE U. CRISMUNDO

CAMP RAFAEL C. RODRIGUEZ, Butuan City Were ready and the entire manpower and machinery of the Philippine National Police (PNP) will operate at peak efficiency to ensure a clean, honest, and orderly political exercise.

Director General Hermogenes E. Ebdane Jr., PNP chief, yesterday gave this assurance to the people of Mindanao, as the official campaign for national positions in the May 10 polls started the other day.

However, Ebdane said the PNP, in close coordination of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), is keeping a tight watch on potential areas where election-related violence traditionally explodes, like the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, and the cities of Marawi and some parts of Cotabato. "We also pinpointed some 4,000 municipalities in the entire country."

He also said that they are closely …