Candidates for all local elective positions, from congressmen down to councilors, can only use security personnel from accredited private agencies as bodyguards during the election period, Negros Occidental provincial elections supervisor Jessie Suarez said yesterday.

In the 2010 polls, mayoral and congressional candidates could seek the protection of members of the police or Army, he noted.

COMELEC Resolution 9561-A sets the rules and regulations on the carrying of weapons and the employment of security personnel during the election period from Jan. 13 to June 12, 2013, Suarez said.

Suarez said a Provincial Joint Security Control Center, headed by him, is being convened to enforce the rules set in the resolution.

Under the new rules, only candidates for senator may be assigned regular members of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, or the National Bureau of Investigation, he added.

Candidates for all other elective positions may engage the services of no more than two licensed personnel of private security agencies, he added.

The security details may be increased when the circumstances warrant, and after due approval, he added.

Security details are allowed to carry two firearms, one short and one long, or two short ones, the resolution states.

Suarez said a command conference to be attended by COMELEC, PNP and AFP officials, is set at Camp Martin Delgado in Iloilo on December 21, and a provincial joint command conference for Negros Occidental will be held in the first week of January to discuss poll security concerns.*CPG

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