MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is offering additional security detail to presidential and vice presidential candidates upon their request, Comelec chairman Saidamen Pangarungan said Tuesday.
Pangarungan said this as he condemned recent violent incidents related to the upcoming May 9 elections. He said the Comelec will investigate reports of shooting in Bukidnon and Lanao.
“While the Comelec is in the process of investigation, we are offering additional security detail to every presidential and vice-presidential candidates upon their request,” he said in a statement.
Pangarungan issued the statement after gunshots were fired against the camp of presidential candidate and labor leader Leody de Guzman when they visited the ancestral land of the Manobo tribe in Quezon, Bukidnon earlier on Tuesday.
READ: Shots fired in Ka Leody’s visit to Manobo tribe ancestral land in Bukidnon
Meanwhile, Pangarungan also confirmed that the municipalities of Malabang and Tubaran in Lanao del Sur have been declared under Comelec control.
Maj. Gen. Valeriano de Leon, head of the Security Task Force for the 2022 National and Local Elections, earlier said that Special Action Force police platoons have been deployed to the two towns after they were declared under control of the poll body.
READ: SAF troops deployed in 2 Lanao towns under Comelec control
Pangarungan noted that Malabang has “witnessed a spate of killings recently” while Tubaran “has a history of election-related violence.”
“Because of this, swift measures to prevent further outbreak of violence are already in place,” he said.
“These incidents of violence have no place in the process of our elections. This is why the Comelec has been more active in pursuing peace covenants and providing decisive action if threats that disturb a peaceful elections arise,” Pangarungan added.
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