5 towns eyed as "probable hotspots"

The Cebu Provincial Police has started monitoring five towns in Cebu as "probable hotspots" in the coming May 14 elections, said CPPO deputy director for operations, Supt. Erson Digal.

The announcement was made during the Ugnayan program held yesterday at the Police Regional Office7 that was also attended by representatives of regional law enforcement agencies, Comelec officials and Muslim leaders in Central Visayas.

Digal said the towns are Daanbantayan, Madridejos, Tuburan, Santander, and Tabuelan, which so far have been beset with political rivalry tensions now and in the past, aside from raw reports of the presence of armed men in these places.

Digal said a team of policemen from the CPPO Special Reaction Unit was already sent to Madridejos while another team was sent to monitor either the southern part or the northern part of the province.

PRO-7 deputy director for administration, C/Supt. Ronald Roderos, for his part assured politicians that the police and military were already ordered to take actions against communist rebels that send solicitation letters to politicians in exchange of "freedom" to campaign in areas under their control.

Roderos said that PRO-7 has not received yet such kind of report so far but he admitted that this practice was prevalent in the past elections.

In cases when candidates receive death threats, Roderos said the police could provide security to them but it must have the approval of the Comelec.

Cebu City North District election officer Marchel Sarno added that if a candidate, under death threat, could apply for security from the police, and the Comelec would decide if police security would be provided or how many will comprise the security personnel.

A representative of the Local Government regional office, Ann Remotigue, on the other hand, urged barangay officials not to engage in any election-related activity and not to act as watchers during the election.

Sakiran Hajan, regional director of the Office of the Muslim Affairs -7, said that a Peace Summit would be held in Cebu soon, involving regional offices of the NBI, the Crime Investigation and Detection Group, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and the regional state prosecutors.

The purpose of the summit is to strengthen the relationships between Christians and Muslims in Cebu so that possible tension due to misunderstanding would be avoided, said Hajan.

Hajan added that the summit is in line with the Muslims' intentions to help maintain peaceful elections, as they would only campaign for their chosen candidates.

Roderos later told forum participants that the police would support the programs of OMA-7. - Flor Z. Perolina/RAE