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THE
National Police and the Commission on Elections (Comelec)
said on Wednesday that they would try to minimize if not
eradicate election-related violence even as they vowed
to train their sights on private armed groups maintained
by politicians.
Based on
police records the 2004 presidential elections is the
most bloody with 117 election-related violent incidents
followed by 2001 with 111 deaths and 1998 with 87
deaths.
Director
General Oscar Calderon, National Police chief, said that
he has ordered all regional and provincial directors to
intensify the campaign to dismantle the so-called
private armies.
At
present, Calderon said only 50 percent of the identified
93 private armies are still active and are now the
subject of operation by the National Police.
Calderon
said the National Police will work closely with the
Comelec to ensure honest, orderly and peaceful
elections.
Calderon
and top police officials held a command conference with
Comelec officials led by Comelec Chairman Benjamin
Abalos Sr. in Camp Crame, Quezon City, where they
discussed security plans for the coming May
elections.
Among
the pressing matters discussed, besides private armies,
are election regulations and the areas of immediate
concern or hotspots.
On
Tuesday, National Police identified 49 towns and
provinces as election hotspots with Bicol and Ilocos
topping the list because of intense political rivalries
in the two regions.
Bicol
was listed as number one and Ilocos number two owing to
the high incidence of election-related violence during
past elections and intense political rivalries among the
politicians in the area.
Bicol
also topped the list because of the strong presence of
the communist New People’s Army in the
region.
Ranked
third are Southern Tagalog (Cavite,
Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon or Calabarzon and
Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan or Mimaropa) and
Eastern Visayas, and the whole Mindanao.
The
National Police also put the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao under the classification “area of concern” also
because of the strong presence of the New People’s Army
in several villages in the region.
Relatedly, the Comelec is in a quandary over the arrest
of an American soldier in General Santos City for
violation of the Comelec-imposed gun ban.
Abalos
said the commission has yet to decide on the case of
MSgt. Steven Sanders, who was arrested for gun toting
inside a restaurant in General Santos
recently.
Abalos
said Sanders’s case will be referred first to the
Department of Foreign Affairs owing to the Visiting
Forces Agreement, before the commission would take
action.
For his
part, Director General Oscar Calderon, National Police
chief, said his office is still awaiting for the report
of the Army in General Santos which has custody of
Sanders. |
