28 villages in Leyte watched due to intense political fights

TACLOBAN CITY — The Philippine National Police has identified 28 barangays in Leyte as potential “flash points” during the May 14 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.

The number of villages tagged as areas of concern had gone down from 32 identified during the 2013 elections, said Ma. Corazon Montallana, Leyte provincial election supervisor.

Peaceful polls

She said the drop in the number of villages considered as areas of concern, representing less than 1 percent of 1,641 barangays, was a good development, giving the Commission on Elections (Comelec) hope that the conduct of the barangay and youth polls in the province would be peaceful.

Intense political rivalry was cited as the main reason why these 28 villages, located in the towns of Carigara, Hilongos, Leyte, Inopacan, MacArthur, La Paz, Burauen, Alangalang and Albuera were identified as election hot spots.

Community issues

Comelec records show that 3,170 candidates are running for barangay chair and 23,330 for village councilor.

In the SK, 3,156 candidates are running for chair while 13,193 for councilor.

Montallana attributed the decline in the number of hot spots in Leyte to candidates who chose to discuss issues, instead of engaging in petty fights.

The initiative of the police to invite candidates to sign peace covenants also helped, she added.—JOEY A. GABIETA