ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Philippine National Police (PNP) urged Tuesday the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to conduct a dry run of the automated elections in the soonest possible time in order for security officials to be given ample time to craft some adjustments in ensuring an orderly and credible elections in May.

Director General Jesus Verzosa, PNP chief, explained that both the police and military men who were deployed in the field may have been too familiar in reacting to the manual elections-related glitches in the past that they may find it a little uncomfortable in responding to some security concerns relating to the automated polls which will only be enforced nationwide this year.

Earlier, Comelec officials said the dry run may be conducted next month, followed by the seminars or trainings for the teachers who will serve as members of the Board of Election Inspectors.

"Automation is a new system, we might need new set of security plans for that. So we urge the Comelec to do the dry run as soon as possible so we can put in place the necessary security measures," said Verzosa in an interview.

"We must be knowledgeable of the system so that we would know how to react," he stressed.

Verzosa, however, assured that both the police and military are ready for any eventuality, even on a scenario that the planned automated polls would be scrapped and eventually reverted back to manual elections.

But should the elections pushed through as planned, the official expressed confidence that this year's elections would be a peaceful one as the implementation of automated polls have somehow lessened not only the cheating possibility but also some security headaches.