Bishops offer prayer for polls

RITUAL Old ballot boxes are being cleaned up to be used on May 14. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Catholic bishops on Thursday issued a prayer to be recited by churchgoers for village and youth council elections set on May 14.

The campaign period for the elections start on Friday.

Fr. Marvin Mejia, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) secretary general, said the prayer would be recited in Masses from May 6 until May 13, the eve of the voting.

In the prayer, bishops sought divine intervention to grant wisdom to voters so that they would elect candidates “who will work for truth, justice and the upliftment of human dignity.”

It pleaded for the “gift of discernment” so that voters would elect those who would “give voice to the poor, the powerless, the abandoned and the oppressed.”

Duterte region

The bishops issued the prayer as authorities prepared to hold manual elections for hundreds of thousands of village officials and members of youth councils.

In Southern Mindanao, President Duterte’s home region, the number of villages tagged as hot spots had grown, according to police.

Police placed 251 villages in Southern Mindanao on the list of areas of concern because of heated rivalry among clans contesting village positions and the presence of armed groups.

The number was 21 villages more than the 2016 list.

Police refused to name the villages, however.

At least 241 villages in Southern Mindanao were identified as areas of concern because of the presence of communist guerrillas.

Comelec control

Of the 241 villages, 68 were in Compostela Valley province, according to police.

Davao City had 54 villages on the list, Davao del Norte had 50, Davao del Sur had 39, Davao Oriental had 27 and Davao Occidental had three.

Chief Insp. Milgrace Driz, Southern Mindanao spokesperson, said the villages, though, would not automatically be under Commission on Elections (Comelec) control, which meant the Comelec would supervise all government operations.

Chief Supt. Manuel Gaerlan, Southern Mindanao police chief, said the list was drawn to serve as a guide in planning.

In Davao City, police said areas of concern were those in districts where New People’s Army (NPA) operates—Paquibato, Mailog and Baguio.

NPA activity

In Butuan City, the Caraga regional police had asked the Comelec to declare 93 of 1,211 villages as areas of concern.

The villages fell under Category 2, or what police said were areas where NPA operates and where there’s heated rivalry among candidates.

The list had been sent to the Comelec and it was up to the poll body to decide which areas to put on a watch list or under Comelec control, according to Senior Supt. Rogelio Raymundo Jr., head of the Caraga police’s regional operations and plans division.

Raymundo said counterinsurgency military operations might still trim the list of villages tagged as areas of concern.

He said the military is conducting clearing operations against NPA members and private armed groups.

Constant monitoring

The list, Raymundo said, was based on reports received last month.

He said he expected the number of villages tagged as areas of concern to go down before the election.

In Iligan City, police said NPA presence in the village of Rogongon was not enough to declare it as an area of concern.

Senior Supt. Leony Roy Ga, city police chief, said authorities, though, were constantly monitoring rebel activity.

“There are no election hot spots here,” Ga told the Inquirer.

In Northern Mindanao, where there are 2,022 villages, the Comelec has yet to come up with a list of areas of concern.

Lawyer Joseph Hamilton Cuevas, Lanao del Norte election supervisor, said the proposed meeting between the Comelec and the security sector has yet to take place in Cagayan de Oro City. — WITH REPORTS FROM FRINSTON LIM, DIVINA SUSON, RICHEL UMEL AND ERWIN MASCARIÑAS