GENUINE Opposition (GO) candidates in Cebu City formally asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday to place all 30 mountain barangays under its control, citing reports of harassment by armed men there.
These aren’t the only areas in Cebu where Comelec may have to pay extra attention, though.
Comelec 7 Director Ray Rene Buac, in a radio dyLA interview, said there’s a big chance Madridejos will be placed under Comelec control if the authorities prove last Tuesday’s shooting of a political coordinator was election-related.
Comelec may place under its control any political unit where “serious armed threats” have been verified, under Resolution 7773.
In these areas, Comelec will exercise direct supervision over all public officials and employees, including law enforcement agencies and the military. Unless lifted earlier by the commission, Comelec control stays in effect until after the elections.
Cebu City congressional aspirant Jonathan Guardo alleged that armed men—who he said are administration party supporters—have been harassing and threatening their supporters in the mountain barangays.
Protection
No affidavits or evidence were attached to the petition filed at the Comelec regional office yesterday.
Guardo said they are willing to prepare the affidavits if these are needed to substantiate their claim.
“We are filing this petition so the people in the mountain barangays can vote without fear. Muhangyo lang mi sa Comelec kay pagpanghad-lok man na ilang tuyo. The harassment is ongoing,” he told reporters.
The petition will be transmitted to the Comelec central office for action.
Acting Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Patrocinio Comendador said there is no substantial basis yet to declare the city’s mountain barangays under Comelec control.
He said they have tried to verify the reported presence of armed men in the mountain barangays but found no confirmation.
In an interview, Vice Mayor Michael Rama declined to comment on Guardo’s petition.
Election ban
“If I say something, they will say nahadlok ta (we’re scared). It’s their right to file such a petition; that’s their prerogative,” said Rama, who is seeking reelection under the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) administration party.
Comelec Regional Attorney Lionel Castillano said that if Comelec control is approved, the poll body will direct the local government unit’s administrative functions to enforce strict compliance of the election ban, as well as other measures to ensure the elections are peaceful and honest.
Meanwhile, a team of police investigators was sent to Madridejos town in Bantayan Island to help the local police in investigating the reported shooting of a political coordinator last Tuesday morning.
Acting Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Carmelo Valmoria told reporters he also activated the Task Group Hope (Honest, Orderly and Peaceful Election) in Bantayan “to defuse the tension in Madridejos.”
“Mao nang atong gihangyo ang mga supporters nga dili mag-init kay ang mga kandidato dili man sila ingon ana. Kalma man (We appeal to the supporters to keep calm, just like the candidates),” Valmoria said.
Census, please
Checkpoint operations in Bantayan Island have been intensified in response to the reported presence of armed men.
Valmoria said he also asked barangay leaders to conduct a census because this is one way of identifying newcomers.
On the request of Madridejos Mayor Letty Mancio to relieve all the policemen assigned in the town, Valmoria said he still has to look into it.
Asked if he will recommend placing Madridejos, Bantayan town and Sta. Fe under Comelec control, Valmoria said he is still evaluating the matter.
Mayor Mancio is preparing to file a case against her rival, Salvador dela Fuente, for the shooting incident.
Dela Fuente, in response, said he no longer finds surprising the moves of his rival.
While it is his camp that Mancio’s group accused of being behind the shooting incident, dela Fuente wrote to the local police requesting for police security escorts in their rallies.
Help, police
Mancio’s spokesman, Junie Hinoguin, said they are gathering statements and other evidence to bring dela Fuente to court.
Hinoguin cited that the gunmen were using campaign shirts and a motorcycle of dela Fuente.
“Dili nami mahibung ana (We already expected that),” Dela Fuente said of the accusations.
What Mancio’s group failed to disclose, dela Fuente stressed, is that the commotion started when the vehicle of vice mayoral candidate Eddy Villacarlos stopped in front of his (dela Fuente’s) supporters.
Through lawyer Bernardito Florido, dela Fuente asked the Madridejos Police Station to “provide police security in uniform” for their daily political rallies to “deter further violence.”
In his petition, Guardo said the City Government’s move to send 50 policemen to a mountain barangay will provoke a confrontation between two armed groups.
“Eventually it would terrorize the people and prevent them from exercising their sacred right to vote. To prevent a bloody confrontation and to enhance a credible and honest elections, it is imperative that all mountain barangays of the city be placed under Comelec control,” the petition read.
Guards
Guardo accused BOPK’s supporters in the mountain barangays of cutting the rubber hoses of the opposition’s allies.
Barangay officials allied with BOPK also refuse to give GO’s supporters barangay clearances and tax certificates, he said.
As for his political opponent Rep. Antonio Cuenco’s complaint about the allegedly massive vote-buying in the south district, Guardo said he hopes that Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos will act on it.
“If Abalos works on that, BOPK candidates will be the first to be disqualified with all (health) insurance cards and cash they are giving away to the chapels. Maayo na ang gihimo ni Cuenco, para siya’y maunay sa iyang kaugalingong tari (Cuenco will find himself hoist by his own petard),” he added.
Comendador, for his part, promised to verify the reported presence of a police patrol car in the campaign sorties of politicians, particularly those with BOPK.
He urged Guardo to make formal his reported complaint on the presence of SPO1 Adonis Dumpit and other CCPO policemen during the administration ticket’s campaign.
This will be used as basis to conduct an investigation, he said. (LCR/JST/JPM)
