RISKS OF VIOLENCE

THE presence of 33 criminal gangs and two private armies were among the risk factors considered by the higher office of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in placing Pangasinan as one of the nine provinces in the whole country under the election watch list.

This was bared by P/Sr. Supt. Edgar Allan Okubo, officer-in-charge at the Pangasinan Police Office (PPO), when he addressed the participants of the “Alay Pangasinan” Unity Walk in Dagupan last Friday.

Okubo said all the threat groups are all being monitored closely by the police so that they can not move, hinder and pose a threat to the holding of peaceful election.

He confirmed that one member of the Alakdan gun-for-hire group in Nueva Ecija was arrested with the help of civilians in San Nicolas town last week while reportedly shadowing the group of Mayor Rebecca Saldivar while she was campaigning house-to-house.

Okubo said the police is currently validating reports that the suspect was under the employ of a politician in Pangasinan.

He also revealed that although Pangasinan is now considered by the Philippine Army as insurgency-free, the CPP-NPA-NDF were reported to have encroached the borders of Pangasinan with Nueva Vizcaya and Nueva Ecija in the east and the province’s borders with Tarlac and Zambales in the south and west.

Okubo said despite these risk factors in this election, the police as well as the Armed Forces of the Philippines are ready to thwart any attempt to disrupt the peaceful conduct of this year’s polls.

He added he deployed additional policemen in Urbiztondo due to reports that some men on board motorcycles were threatening barangay officials supporting another candidate.

Meanwhile, Provincial Elections Supervisor Joel Gines said no incident of violence has been recorded between the Espino and Cojuangco supporters except for the occasional reports of destruction of each other’s campaign posters and also alleged vote-buying by each group.

The Commission on Elections said there are now only 16 towns and cities of Pangasinan under the watchlist but Okubo on Friday said there are still 21.

He mentioned only five on top of the list–Bayambang, Malasiqui, San Carlos City, Urbiztondo and Rosales.

So far, at least 90 percent of the candidates of Pangasinan already signed a peace covenant initiated by Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPRCV) and the various Catholic dioceses in Pangasinan. (Leonardo Micua)

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