CEBU Provincial Election Supervisor Jerome Brillantes said there is no need for Cebu City to be placed under the control of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) following the strafing of the houses of three mountain barangay captains.
This, as Cebu City Councilor Franlin Ong, president of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC), expressed concern on the safety of the village chiefs following the incidents.
Ong said the police should create a task force that will investigate the incidents, which he described as alarming.
“My request to Colonel Garma is that she should create a task force to investigate because it’s already alarming for us because it concerns the safety of the barangay captains and their families,” he said.
As of Friday, April 5, the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) has not identified any suspect in the strafing of the houses of Barangay Captains Pricillo Albores of Sudlon 2, Aurello Lascuña of Sinsin and of Malubog. All three are allies of Mayor Tomas OSmeña.
Lest they are accused of politicking and favoring certain candidates, Police Lt. Colonel Wilbert Parilla, chief of the Operations Branch of CCPO, said they are extra cautious in investigating the strafing incidents.
They will conduct a background check on the three village chiefs to determine a possible motive.
Even if the village chiefs have not filed an official complaint before the police yet, Parilla said they have started gathering evidence, including the empty shells recovered from the crime scene.
“The empty shells are considered contaminated because they have been touched already. We have a procedure for gathering empty shells. Still, we will send these to the PNP Crime Laboratory for cross-matching,” said Parilla.
Since they could not conclude yet that the incident is election-related, Parilla said Cebu City cannot be considered a hotly contested area.
It’s also not necessary to place the entire city under Comelec control this time, he said.
Osmeña had asked to place the city under Comelec control following the strafing incident, believing the incidents are related to the upcoming elections.
Parilla said they cannot do so since the situation still has to be assessed by the PNP.
In interview on Friday, April 5, Brillantes said that for a town or city to be placed under Comelec control, there should be enough grounds such as the presence of goons.
“And the purpose really is to put the election process in mockery so that there will be a postponement or no election at all. For now, we did not see that in Cebu City,” Brillantes said.
Cebu City has been placed under yellow alert status in the Comelec’s Election Watch-list Areas (EWAs). It is the lowest alert level and the classification given to areas where there is intense political rivalry.
Brillantes said they will look into it if the police will submit a recommendation to change the classification. (RVC, From AYB of SuperBalita Cebu)