Army cites 16 Iloilo towns as possible ‘poll hotspots’

From The Daily Guardian (Mar 16, 2019): Army cites 16 Iloilo towns as possible ‘poll hotspots’

THE Philippine Army’s 61st Infantry Battalion recommended 16 towns as areas of concern or election “hotspots.”

Lieutenant Colonel Sisenando Magbalot Jr., 61st IB commander, said they recommended four towns under Yellow (Areas of Concern) category; 9 under Orange (Immediate Concern) Category; and 3 under Red (Grave Concern) Category.

The towns of New Lucena, San Dionisio, Estancia, and Sara are under the yellow category.

Meanwhile, lumped under Orange category are the towns of San Joaquin, Miag-ao, Igbaras, Tubungan, Alimodian, Leon, Janiuay, Lambunao, and Bingawan,

In the Red category are the municipalities of Calinog, Lemery, and Maasin.

Last month, the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) confirmed it has recommended the 16 municipalities to be included in the election areas of concerns list.

Under the guidelines, towns or cities shall be placed under the Category 1 or Yellow classification upon the existence of any of the following:

• History of/or current intense political rivalry (IPR) among the contending parties. Such rivalries could motivate people to engage in violent acts.
• Presence of PAGs (active/potential) that had been and/or can be utilized by candidates in the area and abetted by loose firearms and availability of gun-for-hire groups.
• Occurrence of validated election related incident (ERI) in the 2016 national and local elections, provided there was no participation of domestic terror groups.
• Suspected politically-motivated violent incidents involving elected government officials (EGO)/aspirants/supporters from January 2018 to present and those who filed their COCs until the start of the election period.
• Occurrence of political-motivated ERIs in the current election period provided there is no participation of domestic terror groups.
• Validated reports of candidates involved in illegal drug groups and such support will likely lead to election violence; and/or
• Areas that have been previously declared under COMELEC Control in 2016.

Towns or cities will be placed under Category 2, or election areas of immediate concern, if there is an existence of any of the following factors:

 

• Combination of two or more factors under Category 1.
• Presence and/or serious armed threat posed by the communist terrorist group (New People’s Army) and/or local terrorist groups (BIFF, ASG, AKP and rogue elements of the MNLF/MILF) and/or other analogous groups;
• Reports of the collection of permit to win/permit to campaign by CTGs and/or extortion by LTGs and/or other analogous groups; and/or
• Reports on the existence of CTG/LTG supported candidates.

It was gathered that Iloilo had more towns recommended under election areas of concern after inclusion of election-related incidents that date back prior to 2010.

Magbalot and the IPPO said the declaration would be used as basis for the deployment of personnel for maximum action during the conduct of the elections.

https://thedailyguardian.net/local-news/army-cites-16-iloilo-towns-as-possible-poll-hotspots/