The Philippine National Police (PNP) has started to recall thousands of its personnel deployed in voting centers across the country as it lowered Wednesday the alert status in Luzon and the Visayas following what it described to be a peaceful conduct of elections last on Monday.

Chief Supt. Leonardo Espina, PNP spokesman, said the heightened alert status took effect at noon yesterday in all police units in Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, and the Visayas.

The highest full alert status in Mindanao, however, will remain what with the volatile peace and order situation in the area and the no election scenarios in some towns like seven towns in Lanao del Sur and several barangays in Basilan.

“The Chief PNP (Director General Jesus Verzosa) has decided to lower the alert because everything is going back to normal,” said Espina.

Espina explained that the lowering of the alert status would mean the recall of at least 50 percent of all the policemen earlier tapped to do election duties like guarding of polling precincts.

The remaining police personnel, he said, will focus in securing the retrieval of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines and other election materials from polling precincts  back to their respective storage areas.

“In the next few days, we might put up the entire PNP on normal alert,” said Espina.

Aside from police units in Mindanao, the PNP’s elite Special Action Force (SAF) which was deployed in election hot spots, remain on full alert status, meaning intensified  operation and 100 percent attendance on its personnel.

“We will go back to normal police operations in the coming days,” said Espina.

But Espina said the implementation of nationwide gun ban and the setting up of checkpoints across the country will remain at least until the election period ends on June 9.

Espina added that the operations against threat groups like political warlords’ armed goons will continue and will be included in normal law enforcement operations.

As a proof that they have not lowered their guard against partisan armed goons, Espina said police personnel in Western Visayas captured 17 armed goons of a politician in Iloilo.