No election ‘hot spot’ in Dagupan
BOTH the Dagupan City Police and the City Elections Office confirmed last week there was no reason to include any barangay in Dagupan in the police and Comelec watchlist in connection with the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections on May 14.
Both P/Superintendent Jandale Sulit, officer-in-charge at the Dagupan City Police, and City Elections Officer Ericson Oganiza confirmed this.
Asked by newsmen after presiding over the covenant signing for peaceful, safe, and drug-free elections by some 800 candidates at the Dagupan City Plaza, Sulit said there has been no reported violation of the election gun ban in Dagupan.
“So far, wala pa namang sinasama sa watchlist areas dito sa Dagupan. Hopefully wala,” Sulit said.
He expressed hope that the covenant signing on April 24 will help ensure peace in this coming election.
For his part, Oganiza said there are no indications to warrant the inclusion of any barangay in the watchlist.
In past elections under his watch, he said, no place in Dagupan was ever tagged as a “hot spot” and, judging from the prevailing state of the peace and order in the city, this status will be sustained in the May elections.
It is natural for some candidates to figure in heated discussions but this alone would not make their barangays “hot spots”, he said.
Oganiza noted that as of April 21, there were a total of 1,319 candidates who had filed certificates of candidacy (COCs), out of which 89 are vying for punong barangay positions and 716 for kagawad.
For the Sangguniang Kabataan polls, 94 candidates filed candidacies for SK chairman and 370 for SK village council posts.
There were 10 candidates who withdrew after the list of candidates was finalized: one for barangay chairman, one for Sangguniang Kabataan chairman, and eight for barangay kagawad.
There are 301 clustered precincts in Dagupan to be located in 29 voting centers.
Meanwhile, Sulit revealed that security plans set by the police include the deployment of at least two police personnel per polling center, to be boosted by policemen conducting mobile patrols round-the-clock. (Leonardo Micua)
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