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DAVAO CITY: The Philippine Army’s 10th Infantry Division here will
activate the Division Election Monitoring and Action Center (Demac)
in time for the coming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections
on October 29.
First Lieutenant Rosa Maria Cristina Manuel,
officer in charge of the 10th ID’s public affairs office, said
they will reactivate Demac two weeks before the barangay and SK
elections.
She said the center will handle the monitoring
of the situation in the field before, during and after elections.
Demac will also coordinate the deployment and
report the latest situation in areas expected to encounter problems
or those known as election hotspots.
Included in the areas under the 10th ID are the
entire Davao region, General Santos City and Sarangani Province.
Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Rolando Bautista, 10th ID
spokesman, said they will assist the Philippine National Police
(PNP) in election duties as they have been deputized by the
Commission on Elections (Comelec).
“We will provide augmentation forces to the
PNP upon request,” Bautista said.
He said reserved forces in the brigade and task
force headquarters will also be in place to act as contingency
elements to react to election-related incidents.
Bautista earlier said the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP) are already preparing contingency measures to
prevent communist rebels from disrupting the coming elections.
The military said they are expecting the
communist New People’s Army (NPA) to influence the outcome of the
barangay and SK elections, especially in remote villages, because
they want to gain the support of local officials.
The Army spokesman said soldiers have recovered
rebel documents which showed a plan to ask candidates for the
barangay polls to pledge their commitment to oppose the
establishment of military detachments and the recruitment for
members of Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu).
The AFP, however, assured the public that they
are prepared to meet threats that might be posed by the NPA in
remote communities in the country during the barangay and SK polls.
Meanwhile, in the Cordillera Autonomous Region,
Comelec regional director Armando Velasco said that he and his staff
were surprised with the resignation of Chairman Benjamin Abalos but
assured that ongoing preparations for the barangay elections on
October 29 will continue.
“We have to do our duties and work as mandated
by the law which at this time is to prepare for the October 29
elections,” Velasco said.
The Comelec official said that he cannot comment
as to the alleged impending postponement of the political exercise
because “we have to receive our mandate from our central office
and that we in the region have to implement what we are ordered to
do regarding the forthcoming scheduled elections.”
He said that part of their preparations is the
close monitoring of existing political feuds in the provinces of
Abra and Kalinga, which were traditionally placed under Comelec
control because of intense political rivalries which had resulted in
killings in the past.
”We have to assure that the elections in our
region are honest, orderly, and peaceful,” Velasco said.
PNA
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