Abra now under Comelec control – poll official

BAGUIO CITY — Abra province has been placed under the control of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the May 9 voting, following complaints of harassment and vote-buying received by the poll body.

The Comelec resolution on Abra’s security status has been issued but has not been relayed to the regional office, lawyer Mae Richelle Belmes-Beronilla, Abra election supervisor, said on Wednesday.

Abra, notorious for political violence during elections, was not classified as an election watchlist area (EWA) for the 2016 polls by the police following peaceful and orderly elections in 2013.

An EWA is the equivalent of an election hotspot. Provinces are given this classification for intense political rivalries, rising cases of political violence, presence of threat groups and high number of licensed and unlicensed firearms.

Abra was last placed under Comelec control in 2010. The police office supervising Abra will be directed to relinquish control to a task force that will be formed to secure the May 9 elections once Comelec assumes full control over the province, according to Beronilla.

“I don’t really have details of what we are expected to do without a copy of that resolution but we will also require more policemen and soldiers to augment security,” she said.

A fact sheet given by the Cordillera police showed that the number of shooting cases in Abra had dropped to 28 in the months before the May 9 elections, compared to  51 cases in 2013.

On April 6, Crispin Magwellang, who was seeking a council seat in Baay Licuan town, was shot dead at a wedding in Malibcong town. On April 16, a bomb was detonated by mobile phone, disrupting an activity organized by the Comelec in La Paz town.

On April 24, a supporter of a mayoral candidate was killed in San Juan town.

Police have not listed these attacks as election-related.  SFM/rga