NO major election-related problems are expected in Pangasinan, according to Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes.

“There’s nothing special about Pangasinan in so far as election… We find Pangasinan as a very normal province (sic),” said Brillantes who was in Villasis Thursday for the “Bang Before The Ban” shootfest to highlight the start of the January 13 gun ban in line with the May elections.

“We don’t expect any problem here. We hope there will be none,” he added.

Explaining the inclusion of the province in the priority watch list of the Philippine National Police (PNP) based on an earlier pronouncement by Interior and Local Government Mar Roxas, Brillantes pointed out that the list was made prior to the election period, which means the PNP makes a general assessment on the peace and order situation in the different parts of the country.

“But for purposes of election, once we start with the election period, we will caution the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) from making any announcement because whenever they announce that this is an area of concern or hot spot, it has to be done in coordination with us because this is election,” Brillantes said.

Brillantes said since the Comelec has already deputized both the AFP and the PNP, police and military officers should no longer be making election-related announcements without consulting the Comelec.

Brillantes noted that the gun slaying of Infanta Mayor Ruperto Martinez last month happened prior to the mid-term election period and it could not yet be considered as election-related.

Overall, he said the Comelec is “not thinking of putting any province under Comelec control”, including the usually beleaguered Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and Cebu, whose governor has been suspended.

“We do not expect any major peace and order problem so we do not expect to put any province, even the ARMM provinces, with traditional problem under Comelec control,” Brillantes said.

“Even in Cebu, the problem there is administrative, it is not peace and order,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, Brillantes said a command conference with the head of PNP and the AFP was set Friday as the election period officially starts January 13 with the enforcement of the gun ban.

“We will inform them that since the election period will start on Sunday, all movements, any activity that is related to or connected with the elections, will have to be cleared with us first,” Brillantes said.—Eva Visperas

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