Tuesday, May 08, 2007 Local poll officials finally recommend Comelec control for Bantayan Island
POLL and police officials recommended that Danao City and 12 towns in Cebu’s third, fourth and fifth districts declared as election areas of immediate concern.
That is aside from putting the whole island of Bantayan in northern Cebu under the control of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Comelec 7 Attorney and Provincial Election Supervisor Lionel Castillano based his recommendations on the report of Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) Acting Director Carmelo Valmoria, 78th Infantry Battalion Commanding Officer Raymundo Bañares and the respective election officers of the towns and city.
“Based on their recommendation and assessment, I have also come to assess and recommend to Commissioner Borra through Director Buac that there exists factual and legal basis to place Bantayan Island under Comelec control, as there exists serious armed threat that will threaten or disrupt the holding of a free, peaceful, honest and credible elections in the area,” he told reporters yesterday.
His five-page report was addressed to Comelec 7 Director Rene Buac, which will be submitted to Commissioner-in-charge for Central Visayas Resureccion Borra today.
Castillano said the situation in the towns of Bantayan, Madridejos and Sta. Fe in Bantayan Island is “more serious,” that is why only the three localities were proposed to be placed under their control.
“There is serious armed threat in the two districts but in Bantayan, there is really a tendency that the election can be disrupted because of previous incidents. The situation in the 13 other localities is not as serious as that in Bantayan Island,” he explained.
Castillano also sought the deployment of three platoons from the 78th IB to augment police forces in the two districts, including Bantayan Island.
He proposed to declare as areas of immediate concern the towns of Daanbantayan, Medellin, San Remegio, Tabuelan, Bogo, Tabogon, Tuburan, Asturias, Borbon, Carmen, Catmon and Sogod “as there exists serious armed threat from communists and partisan armed groups.”
“There are intelligence reports on serious armed threat in these areas but both the PNP and the AFP were not able to identify them. According to their report, naa gyud pero wala nila mailhi kinsa (There is but they were not able to identify who),” Castillano said.
The report will no longer be deliberated on by the commission en banc since the task of assessing peace and order situation in the provinces has been delegated to the commissioners.
With this, it will be up to Borra to decide whether or not he will approve the regional officials’ recommendation.
“That will be the commissioner’s discretion. He can disapprove it if he thinks it’s not needed and if he finds it to be baseless,” Castillano said.
Castillano’s statements drew opposition from the Martinez camp and support from fourth congressional aspirant Benhur Salimbangon and his allies.
Former congressman Celestino “Junie” Martinez Jr., the fourth district’s known political leader, yesterday said the Comelec has no basis in recommending such declaration for other places in his district because for him, only Madridejos and Daan-bantayan should be areas of immediate concern.
Even Sta. Fe, whose mayoral candidate Rogelio Ilustrisimo Sr. was shot to death, is still peaceful, he said.
“Wa may gubot diri, kamo ramang media ang gasige ug gubot diri (There is no trouble here. It’s only the media causing trouble,” said Martinez, adding that he is putting in P200,000 to Mayor Tomas Osmena’s offer of P300,000 to whoever can give information on Ilustrisimo’s gunman.
Medellin Vice Mayor Ricardo Ramirez, who is running for mayor in Medellin, said the declaration for his town is not necessary.
“So far, it’s very peaceful here. There’s no need to alarm people here because our golf course, for example, is getting lots of Korean tourists so why take unnecessary steps to cause anxiety?” asked Ramirez, an ally of Martinez.
Salimbangon, for his part, support the move of Comelec.
Aside from preventing harassment of his leaders, increased police visibility can also help deter potential switching of ballots and election returns, Salimbangon said.
Happy with the Comelec’s pronouncement, Bantayan Mayor Geralyn Escario said she will request for “many, many more” policemen to watch over her town, especially since she gets reports of strangers in her town.
Lawyer Nathaniel Clarus, legal counsel of Madridejos Mayor Lety Mancio, said their camp has even been insisting from the start to place Madridejos under Comelec control.
Towns from the fifth district are also recommended as areas of immediate concern but Rep. Red Durano could not be reached through his two mobile phones.
Carmen Mayor Virginio Villamor, however, said he is happy with Castillano’s recommendation for his considering that just two nights ago three of his leaders were intimidated by people who claimed to be from Davao.
Under Comelec Resolution 7773, the poll body may place a certain locality under its control only if it is affected by “serious armed threats.”
Once it takes control of a locality, the commission is authorized to take immediate and direct control and supervision over all administrative functions in the local government unit, including the disbursement of public funds.
It will also control national and local officials and employees required by law to perform duties and comply with prohibitions related to the election, and supervise all national and local law enforcement agencies and military officers and men assigned in the area.
CPPO Director Valmoria said they are continuing their assessment daily to see if the other towns in these districts need to be classified as election areas of concern.
In the 12 towns, he said there is the threat of communist rebels.
Although he has not received reports of the armed movement asking money from politicians, Valmoria said this did not mean they were not demanding permit to campaign fees.
Front 2 of the New People’s Army Central Visayas Regional Party Committee operates in towns under these districts.
Valmoria said that on election day, police officers will be spread out and will not have time to constantly hold checkpoints because they have to secure polling places.
He also said members of the AFP can even escort election materials provided they do not occupy the same vehicle. The CPPO has seven election subtask groups for the whole Province. Valmoria will be assigning key officials in the CPPO to head each subtask group, which is by district.
There are two subtask groups for Cebu’s fourth district, as the subtask group in Bantayan is treated as separate from the fourth district. (LCR/MEA/JPM)
