At least 2,000 police and military personnel are now securing the seven towns in Lanao del Sur and other areas where special elections will be held on Thursday, June 3, a ranking police official said Monday.

Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina, spokesman of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said that they also put on standby an “ample” number of police trainees in all the clustered precincts in the towns of Sultan Domalondong, Lumba Bayabao, Masiu, Tubaran, Lumbaca Unayan, Marogong and Bayang towns in Lanao del Sur.

“If there were no regular BEIs (Boards of Election Inspectors) show up like what happened last May 10 in these towns, then they could count on us, PNP trainees duly-tapped by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will be there to act as replacements,” said Espina in an interview.

Aside from outbreak of violence in Lanao del Sur, it was recalled that the failure of BEIs to go to the precincts led to the declaration of no election in the areas, prompting the Comelec to set June 3 as the special election day.

The same special elections will also be held in one clustered precinct in Barangay Poblacion in Glan, Sarangani; one clustered precinct in Barangay Buenos Aires in Pagsanghan in Western Samar; seven clustered precincts in Al-Barkah, Basilan, and two clustered precincts in Maluso town also in Basilan.

Aside from Provincial and Regional Public Safety Management Units (formerly provincial and regional mobile groups), a military official said a company of soldiers (composed of more or less 100 men) will be deployed for each of the seven towns in Lanao del Sur.

The soldiers will be backed by two armored vehicles for each of the seven towns. A battalion of soldiers, on the other hand, were deployed in Basilan.

The composite troops spread their forces in the municipalities of Lumba Caunayan, Sultan Dumalondong, Tugaya, Marogong, Masiu, Tubaran, Bayang, and Lumba Bayabao, all of Lanao del Sur.

Brig. Gen. Rey Ardo, commanding general of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade, said some of the troops from 1st “Tabak” Division from Zamboanga Peninsula had been deployed since Saturday.

To provide air cover to ground troops, the strike wing and helicopter wing of the Philippine Air Force’s (PAF) 3rd Air Division has been mobilized to help in secure the special elections.

“Securing these areas is much manageable compared on May 10 because we only have a very few precincts to be secured,” said Espina.

Espina also revealed that they have not actually pulled out their personnel in Lanao del Sur and the areas where failure of elections were declared as part of the preparations for the special polls.

The official also assured that the elections will push through on Thursday, saying they have prepared enough for all the possible untoward incident, adding that they are also banking on the assurance of cooperation from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forces in Lanao del Sur.

“We have also police trainees who were trained to operate PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scan) as well as in voting and in counting so we are prepared even if regular BEIs would not show up,” said Espina.

“And we assure the public that we will go after all those people who will create trouble and we will assure peace, we will assure security and if there are breaches to security then we have to arrest anybody who breaches security,” he added. (With a report from Mike U. Crismundo)