AUTHORITIES over the weekend confirmed that there are no identified election ‘hot spots’ or areas of concern in Cagayan de Oro City for the upcoming May 14 village and youth polls.
Still, the local police force will be keeping an eye on all election-related activities in the hinterland villages of Cagayan de Oro.
Senior Superintendent Nelson Aganon, chief of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (Cocpo), said more police personnel will be deployed in the upland villages to deter election-related violence.
“Walang identified na areas of concern for CdeO pero ang considerations natin is dadagdagan natin ng tao sa mga hinterland barangays kasi remote areas yan (There are no identified areas of concern for CdeO but one of our considerations is that we will add more policemen in the hinterland barangays because these are remote areas),” Aganon said.
Aganon said the deployment of police in the city’s far-flung barangays has already been in place, adding that the city’s police force remains sufficient to secure all 61 polling centers in the entire city.
However, they will opt to request augmentation from the Police Regional Office-Northern Mindanao (PRO-10) if the need arises.
Other security concerns that the local police take into considerations would be the presence of communist rebels and other armed groups in the hinterlands, which may pose fear among the aspirant village and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) leaders and the upland communities.
Aganon said they have yet to receive reports that the New People’s Army (NPA) or any threat groups are beginning to ask money from the aspiring village leaders in exchange of their safety and security should they penetrate in remote areas to ask support from the electorates.
Aganon raised the possibility that election-related activities in the hinterlands may become rowdy because of contending parties of families bidding for the village positions.
He said they would strengthen the security measures especially that the elections is not automated.
“Alam naman natin ang barangay election is paramihan ng mga kamag-anak kaya posible yung mga kanchawan ng mga supporters kaya pinaghahandaan natin yan lalo nat manual ang election (We know that the barangay elections is about families and relatives that’s why we are preparing for this especially that it is a manual election),” Aganon said.
Aganon urged all would-be village and youth leaders to obey election rules and keep away from election offenses and violence.
The city police director, on the other hand, reminds the voters not to seriously take the personal issues of candidates, and follow and observe poll regulations.
Aganon said more meetings will be scheduled with the local poll body to ensure that the entire election process is peaceful and clean.
Aganon reported that the first night of the implementation of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) gun ban and the synchronized checkpoints went smooth with no apprehensions recorded.
“Lahat ng police stations nag-conduct ng checkpoint pati yung reserve na tao natin sa headquarters dinadgad natin so nag full blast tayo kaya maganda ang resulta walang apprehension (All police stations conducted the checkpoints and we had full blast since the reserve force from the headquarters also augmented that’s why we have not recorded apprehensions),” Aganon said.
Aganon said the nightly security inspections in relation to the upcoming elections is also a strategy against all forms of criminality.
The election period started last Saturday, April 14, which also kicked off the filing of the certificate of candidacy, and it would end on May 21. (Alwen Saliring/SunStar Cagayan de Oro)