Tuesday, January 30, 2007 Comelec to politicians: Pull out your streamers By Ruby P. Silubrico
THE Commission on Election (Comelec) in Western Visayas warned political candidates to remove their streamers being hung in some areas of Iloilo City because it is not yet the election campaign period.
Comelec Regional Director Renato Magbutay made this reminder Monday.
Magbutay said if they fail to do so, his personnel would be the ones who will remove them.
Some streamers seen in the city are those by Nielex Tupas, son of Iloilo Governor Niel D. Tupas Sr. and who is running for city councilor, Councilors Julienne Baronda and Merci Drilon Garcia and Representative Raul Gonzalez.
Tupas has the most number of streamers being hung. They carry the slogan, "Lex Tupas. Tingog sang mga pamatan-on."
On the other hand, Magbutay said his office has yet to identify the election watch list area pending the final list from the head office.
What used to be as "hot spots" are now called as "watch list areas."
Reports from a national newspaper stated that in Western Visayas, there are 31 areas considered as watch list areas, but Magbutay did not confirm this.
"As of now we have not yet identified the watch list areas. We are waiting for the list from our main office. We can determine this on the last day of the filing of candidacy," Magbutay said.
Some considerations in determining such areas are the presence of armed groups, insurgency problem and the election history like political-related killings or death threats.
