Let the Philippine National Police (PNP) or Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) assign security personnel – preferably from the same unit – to opposing political personalities, especially in areas designated as election hotspots.
This was the doable suggestion raised by former PNP chief and Senator Ping Lacson on minimizing, if not preventing, election-related violence as the campaign season for local officials goes into full swing.
“Members of the same unit know each other so they will not fight each other.”
“It may be better to replace the bodyguards of opposing political personalities with personnel from the same unit. Members of the same unit know each other so they will not fight each other,” Lacson said in an interview on DZRH radio.
“This may be practical in election hotspots, instead of candidates individually asking for exemption from the Commission on Elections.”
“They will secure their principals but will not deliberately fire on each other. This may be practical in election hotspots, instead of candidates individually asking for exemption from the Commission on Elections so they can get their security detail from the PNP or AFP,” he added.
Meanwhile, Lacson reminded the PNP, which he headed from 1999 to 2001, to keep up its efficiency that led to the lowering of the crime rate so far this year.
The PNP cited data showing an 18.4-percent drop in eight focus crimes during a 70-day period from Jan. 12 to March 22 this year – compared to the previous 70-day period from Nov. 3, 2024 to Jan. 11, 2025. It cited improved strategies and community engagement.
He said the PNP should remain focused on crime prevention and crime suppression – if it cannot prevent crimes through patrols, it should solve them, or risk encouraging the further commission of crimes.
“What I can say is, congratulations to the PNP for lower crime. Lower crime rate is a cause for us to be glad,” Lacson concluded.
