Alarcio promises escorts for poll bets in two towns

Police regional director Silverio Alarcio Jr. had promised to provide policemen as security escorts for candidates in at least two towns in the fourth district where the political race is highly intense and volatile.

Among the towns where the candidates must have police escorts are Daanbantayan and Medellin, Alarcio said.

Needing escorts are the mayoralty candidates in Daanbantayan, Sun Shimura, and his opponent Augusto Corro, and those in Medellin, Vice Mayor Ricardo Ramirez, who is running against Provincial Board member Joven Mondigo.

Alarcio said the two towns and others in the fourth district have been declared areas of concern for the elections. Those in Bantayan Island, however, have been placed under the control of the Commission on Elections.

Declaring the towns in the fourth district areas of concern made it easier for the police to provide escorts to mayoralty candidates because a Comelec approval is no longer needed for such, unlike when a place is under Comelec control, said Alarcio.

The placing of Bantayan Island under Comelec control and declaring the rest of the fourth district as areas of concern came after the killing of Santa Fe mayoralty candidate Roger Illustrisimo Sr.

Illustrisimo was shot dead by a still unidentified gunman in front of the Comelec provincial office after he attended the hearing the case to disqualify him, filed by his opponent Domingo Zaspa.

Alarcio said this has been part of the precautionary measures that the Comelec and the police had agreed to carry out owing to the possibility that the political tension in the island might escalate to neighboring towns.

Cebu provincial police director Carmelo Valmoria said there is also a plan to request the military for an augmentation force to secure Bantayan Island during the elections.

The Comelec did not deputize military men anymore except for some cases where they are really needed. — Fred P. Languido/RAE