No basis to place Cebu City under Comelec control — Sinas

CEBU, Philippines — There is no enough basis to place the entire Cebu City under the Commission on Elections (Comelec) control, according to the Police Regional Office (PRO) chief.

Brigadier General Debold Sinas, PRO-7 director, said a place is only under Comelec control if there is a “breakdown of traditional government.”

“There is no ground. Everything is functioning as it is,” he said.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, in an earlier interview, said he might suggest placing the city under Comelec control, which means immediate and direct control and supervision over national and local officials and employees.

The idea came after the houses of two barangay captains allied with Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) were strafed earlier this month by groups of armed men in the mountain barangays of Sudlon II and Sinsin.  The village chiefs and their families were unharmed.

Under Comelec Resolution 10481, Comelec control shall be exercised when peace and order will compromise the conduct of elections.

There are four categories under the Comelec’s current system of classification to identify the degree of election-related concerns.

Under category green are areas with no security concern, while under category yellow are those with a history of election-related violence or intense partisan political rivalry without the participation of local terrorist groups.

Areas with a history of violent incidents and intense partisan political rivalry and armed threats posed by local terrorist groups are under category orange.

Category red includes areas where factors of category orange and threats posed by armed groups under category yellow exist.

Sinas said some Cebu City villages have been placed under the yellow category, which means that it is of “lesser danger” compared to other areas that fall under orange and red categories.

He said the city is normally under the green category, but due to intense political rivalry through heated verbal exchanges, the city has been placed under yellow category.

At present, 54 out of 132 towns—six under red, 18 under orange, 30 under yellow and 78 under green— in Central Visayas are considered as election hotspots. — KBQ (FREEMAN)