Candidates urged to sign peace covenant for elections

THE new chief of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) called on all candidates to sign a covenant to help ensure peaceful elections next year.

Chief Supt. Manuel Gaerlan, who assumed his post  last Wednesday, said competing local candidates should find a way to settle their differences through peaceful means.

“My instructions to all my ground commanders are to step up the campaign against proliferation of firearms as well as to initiate dialogs and activities such as peace covenants. It should be a friendly competition for candidates,” he said.

Yesterday morning, Gaerlan led a command conference with police precinct chiefs in the provinces and cities of Central Visayas.

Commission on Elections (Comelec)  provincial supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano also met with Gaerlan.

Castillano, in a separate media briefing, said they are studying whether  to put Dumanjug town under its watchlist  following last Wednesday’s shootout between police and the suspects in a strafing incident.

“Dumanjug town was  included in the watchlist in the past. There’s nothing new with that.  It’s just becoming more intense. The election period starts on January 10 and that’s when we can deputize the police and military,” he said.

Castillano said meetings with the Regional Joint Security Control Center (RJSCC)and the Provincial Joint Security Control Center (PJSCC) will finalize the list of the election hotspots.

Gaerlan said he’s considering to reshuffle the provincial and city directors in Central Visayas since most of them have already served two years in their posts.