AFP, PNP vigilant vs election spoilers

MANILA, Philippines—Government security forces are all set for Monday’s barangay (village) elections, with the Philippine National Police (PNP) saying there are no monitored threats meant to disrupt Election Day.

But the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines are on red alert as a standard operating procedure.

Senior Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, chief of the PNP public affairs office, said on Sunday that 22 candidates and supporters had been killed in election-related violence over the past month.

Sindac said 27 others had been wounded in the violence.

Senior Supt. Wilben Mayor, PNP spokesman, said that while there were no security threats monitored, nearly 600 people had been arrested for

violating the election gun ban.

Of the figure, 543 were civilians, seven were policemen, five were soldiers, three were militiamen and six were government employees, Mayor said.

Confiscated were 482 firearms, 191 bladed weapons, 289 other explosives, 68 grenades and over 4,000 ammunition, the police said.

The gun ban began on Sept. 27 and would end on Nov. 12.

“The PNP usually remains on red alert until after the barangay elections are completed but it would also depend on PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima,” Sindac said.

The military, which plays a support role to the PNP on Election Day, will be on red alert until 8 a.m. of Oct. 29.

Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, head of the AFP public affairs office, said the AFP “will remain vigilant against spoilers for this democratic exercise,” especially in areas where the New People’s Army, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, the Abu Sayyaf Group and other threat groups are present.

The military has deployed augmentation forces in Masbate and Metro Manila for election duties. “Contingency forces are available for rapid deployment for any untoward incident that may occur,” Zagala said.

Central Luzon

In Central Luzon, the military and the police have identified 214 villages as “areas of concern.” These include 61 villages in Aurora and 153 in Nueva Ecija.

In Pangasinan province, police and military personnel have been sent to 88 villages tagged as elections hot spots.

“Of course, these [areas] are the priority of our deployment. And this is the reason why we have augmentation forces from the police and the army,” said Senior Supt. Marlou Chan, provincial police director.

Of the 88 villages, which are in 29 towns and cities, Chan said 76 were classified as “areas of concern” because of intense political rivalry and threats from the NPA.

Eleven of the villages were tagged as “areas of immediate concern” while one village was classified as “area of grave concern” because of the shooting of a candidate for village chief there.

Chan said 186 policemen from the regional office and the public safety battalion and 87 Army soldiers were sent to these critical areas.

Armed group in Abra

“This is grassroots politics and it is more intense because the candidates are friends, neighbors and, worse, relatives. They knew each other’s secrets,” said Marino Salas, Pangasinan election supervisor.

In the Cordillera, a suspected member of a private armed group was shot and killed in a police operation in Lagayan town in Abra province.

Supt. Davy Limmong, spokesman of the Cordillera regional police, said Ludring Silbaw was killed in a shootout with the Abra police in Barangay Pang-ot on Oct. 21 when the lawmen were confronted by 12 men wielding rifles and a grenade launcher.

Limmong said the group was a private armed group led by one Vincent Guzman, who was suspected to be working for political families in Abra for years.

On Thursday, Chief Supt. Benjamin Magalong, Cordillera police director, said the regional police tapped 407 policemen to augment security in various provinces in the region, including Abra, during the village election.

Most of them would secure 156 election watch-list areas in the region. In a report, the police classified 23 villages as election areas of concern because of the existence there of intense political rivalries. Sixteen of these villages are in Abra, four are in Kalinga and three are in Baguio City, police said.

Shot dead in N. Samar

In San Roque, Northern Samar, a village chief was walking home after attending a wedding reception when he was shot dead about 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Santiago Limpiado, 57, was about 60 meters from his house in Purok 4, Barangay Bantayan when he was shot twice allegedly by Gil Siervo, his opponent in the race for barangay captain. Siervo remained at large after he escaped following the shooting.

In the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), police on Saturday deployed about 2,400 personnel to perform poll duties.

Chief Supt. Noel de los Reyes, ARMM police chief, said most of the policemen, who would serve on the Board of Election Tellers (BET), came from Metro Manila and the administrative regions around the ARMM.

De los Reyes said the 1,600 policemen had undergone training on election duty and told to maintain independence. “They are not from ARMM so they have no relatives in the locality they are to serve,” he told reporters.

Teachers fear work

The ARMM is composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi where some teachers have refused to serve in Monday’s balloting due to security reasons and their affiliations with most of the candidates, by blood and by affinity.

De los Reyes said 490 of the ARMM’s 2,470 barangays had been identified as areas of immediate concern due to intense rivalry among local aspirants and to previous election-related incidents. Lanao del Sur had the biggest number at 313 barangays, followed by Basilan with 57; Maguindanao, 55; Sulu, 43; and Tawi-Tawi, 15.

On Sunday morning, a reelectionist village chair was abducted in Isabela City in Basilan.

Supt. Albert Larubis, Isabela police chief, said the victim,

Alrusdi Kamil Jainul, chair of Tandung Ahas village in Lamitan City, was on his way to Isabela when his vehicle was blocked by at least six armed men.—With reports from Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon, and Gabriel Cardinoza and Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon; Rachel Arnaiz, Inquirer Visayas; and Edwin Fernandez, Julie S. Alipala, Orlando Dinoy, Inquirer Mindanao; and AP

 

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