A total of 559 police officers from Western Visayas are eligible for local absentee voting, which began on Monday.

Lt. Col. Arnel Solis, spokesperson for the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6), said the casting of votes will be until Wednesday at the regional headquarters in Camp Delgado in Iloilo City, with one additional day allocated for provincial offices.

Solis noted that some of the officers are residents of Western Visayas but opted to participate in absentee voting due to their duties during the elections on May 12, which may prevent them from voting in their registered locations.

“This is significant because they exercise their right to vote,” he said in an interview.

Police officers are expected to be deployed to various provincial and city offices as part of an augmentation force one week before the midterm elections.

“We have a strength of more than 9,000, so we will be maximizing our PNP (Philippine National Police) personnel regionwide,” he said.

Of the 559 officers eligible for absentee voting, 86 are from the regional headquarters; 61 from the regional mobile force battalion; 21 from national support units; 107 from the Aklan Police Provincial Office (PPO); 23 from the Antique PPO; 26 from the Capiz PPO; 130 from the Iloilo City Police Office; 51 from the Iloilo PPO; and 54 from the Guimaras PPO. (PNA)