Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Ano said President Rodrigo Duterte reminded uniformed personnel to remain non-partisan as they assure the conduct of clean, peaceful and honest elections.

In a joint press conference in Camp Crame in Quezon City on Thursday, Ano said Duterte did not give any order to favor any presidential candidate.

"There is no such order. The President has said over and over that he is not going to endorse any presidential candidate and almost everyday since last week we have been meeting with the President, that last time was yesterday. We had a joint AFP-PNP command conference presided by the President. He always says one thing. I want to have a peaceful, clean, orderly, honest election," he said.

"We must have a clean, honest, orderly election. We will not be partisan. We will ensure that the people are able to cast their vote and we will protect the sanctity of the ballot. So that's the standing order," he added.

Ano assures that uniformed personnel are all prepared to implement the order of Duterte.

"We are ready to prosecute anyone within the department or within the uniformed services under the DILG to go after any violator or anyone who will play politics. That is our assurance to the public and we will do our job properly," he said.

Ano said there were no formal cases filed against the local government officials but he noted that the number of LGUs who were given notice to explain has increased to 63 from 48. Robina Asido/DMS