Comelec foresees no problem except for Abra and Kalinga

BAGUIO CITY (Apr. 27) — The Commission on Election-Cordillera Autonomous Region (Comelec- CAR) disclosed it would focus its attention on two Cordillera provinces it considers election hot spots.

An official bared all other provinces of the region are peaceful and orderly amid issues of heated politics due to the coming mid-term elections in some areas of CAR.

Assistant Comelec Regional Director Atty. Julius D. Torres says, there is no problem with the peace and order situation brought by political rivalries in most parts of the Cordillera except in Abra and Kalinga.

“As of now, most of the preparations for elections including security, is already handled by Task Force Abra, headed by Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos,” stressed Atty. Torres in an interview with Nordis.

Comelec control is a situation wherein duties and functions of the local government will be closely monitored by the Comelec, explained Torres. Decision powers of the PNP and including that of the local go-vernment officials will be limited and have to be approved by the TF: Abra chairperson, particularly on disbursement of funds, use of government resources and added security for townspeople from authorities through a duly recognized task force directly ordered by the Comelec. It is an implication that the situa-tion in the area is under the control of Comelec, he clarified.

Torres iterated that in the case of Abra, two task forces, with separate functions were created. The first is Task Force Abra”, a task force under PNP that is generally in-charge of security in Abra and was put up outside election period due to the assassination of Abra Congressman Luis “Chito” Bersamin. This task force was created even before the province was put under Comelec control, it was formerly headed by General Eugene Martin, now headed by Col. Villamor Bumanglag.

The Comelec Task Force, Torres added, consists of Comelec’s regional director, the regional director of Philippine National Police (PNP) and the highest-ranking Army officer based on the area.

“There are still cases of reported isolated incidences since the area was put under Comelec control but with the help of the task force, these incidents of election-related violence was minimized until hopefully, it will be zero-violence,”Torres admits.

Torres said Abra is traditionally an election hot spot, and has been put under Comelec control since March, this year. “Since then, cases of violation of the gun ban and encounters by candidates’ bodyguards with the New People’s Army have been controlled.

As for Comelec’s handling on Kalinga’s politics, the regional office recently recommends Comelec control for the province’s situation. Torres reiterates that Kalinga is already considered an area of “immediate concern” because of some reported incidents in some towns although Comelec-CAR is still waiting for the resolution coming from the national law department to approve their re-commendation. The killing of Kalinga Vice-governor Rommel Diasen triggered the recommendation for Comelec control in the area.

The Comelec still has no hint on motive of Diasen’s killing, as there are various angles leading to his death but since it happened during election period, it is attributed to politics. “Let us not focus on one angle only, it may be personal also,” explained Torres.

Meanwhile, Comelec assured that other than Abra and Kalinga, there is no reported problem in other parts of the Cordillera. “Historically, there is no political or other related problems in Benguet, Mountain Province, Ifugao and even Apayao,” Torres surmised. # Tschaine Crown Benitez for NORDIS