Only 24 barangays in CV left as election areas of concern – Pelare
Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said that there are now 24 election areas of concern in Central Visayas. | CDN Digital photo / Emmariel Ares
CEBU CITY, Philippines – From having 41 barangays classified as areas of concern in Central Visayas in the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections on October 30, the list was already trimmed down to only 24 in the latest report released by the Regional Joint Security Council (RJSC).
This was confirmed by Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare, the spokesperson of the director of the Police Regional Office Central Visayas (PRO-7) Police Brigadier General Anthony Aberin, in a press conference on Thursday, Oct. 19.
“We know have 6 areas of concern and 18 election areas of immediate concern. Again, kining areas of immediate concern, most of these barangays are in Negros and in Bohol due to the presence of communist-terrorist groups,” he said.
Pelare said that the 17 other barangays were already removed from the list based on the outcome of the RJSC’s threat assessment.
RJSC consist of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and the Philippine Coastguard (PCG).
“Ang atong threat assessment is always being updated. Sa latest update, naa tay mga findings from intelligence units in the ground nga nawala ang mga threats,” he said.
Pelare said that the 24 areas of concern include two barangays in Cebu province, one in Bohol, and four in Negros Oriental.
Meanwhile, Pelare said that while the number of barangays identified as areas of concern had already dropped, the number of security personnel that will be deployed in the BSKE will remain the same.
A total of 12,000 uniformed personnel will be deployed to ensure peace and order in the region in the elections. Of these, a total of 9,200 will come from the PNP while the rest will come from the AFP and the PCG.
“Sa Bohol ug sa Negros, daghan daghan gyud didto ang madeploy tungod kay naa man tay mga areas of immediate concern didto. Naa pud tay madugang sa CPPO, Cebu province. Unya ang sa Cebu City, Mandaue City, and Lapu-Lapu City, there will also be augmentation from the regional office,” he said.
The campaign period for BSKE 2023 officially started on Thursday, Oct. 19, and will continue until Oct. 28.
And while they are committed to secure the elections, Pelare said that the PNP was also committed to support Comelec’s “Operation Baklas” or the nationwide simultaneous removal of illegally posted campaign materials.
“Police officers are well briefed on their role aning campaign period. Naghatag nag guidelines ang Comelec. Naay katong [guidelines on the] sizes of poster. Naa na pud silay gihatag nga mga areas nga asa dapat ibutang ang posters. And the role of the PNP is just to make sure nga during the campaign period, everything will be safe and secured,” he said.
On the other hand, the Department of Energy has assured the RRJSC that they are also doing their own preparations to prevent power interruptions on October 30.
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