Comelec ‘areas of concern’ for May polls yet to be declared

FILE PHOTO The government is hoping that more Abu Sayyaf bandits will lay down their arms to maintain peace in Basilan. The Comelec has yet to declare the province an election area of concern. —INQUIRER PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has yet to declare any city or province in the country as an area of concern for the May elections, its spokesperson clarified on Thursday.

“The security situation is what we refer to when we talk about areas of concern. Wala pa kaming naidedeklarang (We have yet to declare any) areas of concern,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in an online press briefing when asked to confirm reports that the agency has tagged Basilan as a “hotly-contested area” for the elections.

“I’ve been looking at this report, and it seems to me that there was a provincial coordinating meeting recently held in Basilan…” he said. “It is possible na doon pa lang ‘yan at that level, sa Basilan pa lang mismo.”

According to Jimenez, the declaration of areas of concern is usually done by a national security committee in Manila.

“The process is you have the local PNP (Philippine National Police) coordinating with the local Comelec and then coming to an agreement on what they will recommend to the national committee, and then it’s the national committee that ultimately releases the final list of areas of concern,” he explained.

Jimenez, however, said the local units in Basilan may recommend that Basilan be declared an area of concern for the elections.

“But it is possible that Basilan will be recommending, the local Comelec in Basilan, will be recommending that Basilan be declared an area of concern, possibly in coordination with the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and the PNP. But this will have to be recommended first to the Central Committee here in Manila,” he said.

“According to our law department, they will have the first security meeting on Friday pa lang (only) which means that this matter will probably be raised to the Comelec security committee meeting on Friday,” he added.

EDV