More soldiers to be deployed in NCotabato for barangay polls

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines – The provincial office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will deploy more soldiers and policemen in three districts in Kabacan town due to the presence of armed Moro groups supporting rival candidates for barangay positions.

Ivy Cervantes, local government operations officer of Kabacan, said the Comelec already declared Barangays Aringay, Kayaga and Lower Paatan as “areas of concern” due to the peculiarity of domestic peace and security concerns in the locality. 

Cervantes said the Comelec will have the three areas secured by sufficient number of soldiers and policemen during the October 28 barangay elections.

There were recent attacks by Moro factions in the three areas, including the bombing last August of a steel power relay pylon in Barangay Kayaga that caused almost two days of outage in many parts of Central Mindanao.

Many Moro aspirants for elective positions in Barangays Aringay, Kayaga, and Lower Paatan belong to families known for keeping firearms both as status symbol and for protection from hostile clans.

Some of the candidates for elective barangay posts are also identified either with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, or the Moro National Liberation Front.

Brig. Gen. Ademar Tomaro, commanding officer of the Army’s 602nd Brigade, said they are ready to deploy soldiers in the three barangays anytime if ordered by the Comelec.

“It’s the Comelec that decides on how to address security concerns regarding the barangay elections. We’re just waiting for an order from the Comelec for us to secure these areas,” Tomaro said.

The Comelec provincial office had also reportedly placed under tight watch the barangay elections in the town proper of Kabacan, which under the first congressional district of the province.

Previous local and barangay elections in the municipality were marred by bombings and killings of candidates by suspected partisans.

Guns-for-hire have been operating with impunity in Kabacan for two years now, according to local officials.