Security preparations for barangay, SK polls tackled today

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to hold today a command conference with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to discuss security preparations for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls on Oct. 28.

Comelec Commissioner Grace Padaca said the poll body would ask the PNP and AFP about “their reports on the presence of private armed groups and where the intense political rivalries are.”

Padaca said the Comelec also expects the PNP and AFP to come out with a list of “areas of concern.”

In the last senatorial elections, the provinces identified as areas of concern were Abra, Ilocos Norte, Pangasinan, La Union, Cagayan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Cavite, Batangas and Masbate in Luzon; Western Samar in the Visayas; and Misamis Occidental, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Lanao del Norte in Mindanao.

Earlier, Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. admitted that the coming barangay and SK elections could be more intensely contested than the past elections.

Padaca said the Comelec would also discuss the peace and order situation in Zamboanga and decide whether to postpone the elections there, following the standoff between government troops and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) forces in the city.

“We will use that (conference) to gather information and for us to be able to decide whether to postpone the elections there or not,” Padaca said.

The Comelec earlier announced that it is strongly considering the postponement of elections in barangays affected by the standoff.

At present, the MNLF forces have occupied five of 98 barangays in Zamboanga. There are reports of voting centers being burned and registered voters have evacuated due to the armed conflict.

The 18,000-strong National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), meanwhile, vows to secure the more than 700 polling precincts in Metro Manila.

NCRPO director Chief Superintendent Marcelo Garbo Jr. ordered his five district directors to submit not later than this week their list of areas of concerns in the coming barangay elections in their respective jurisdictions.

“We have started security preparations for the barangay elections but as of this time we are still in the monitoring process,” said Chief Superintendent Christopher Laxa, NCRPO’s deputy director for operations.     – With Non Alquitran