The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has taken control of this province wracked by political violence and has replaced its provincial police director to ensure a good voter turnout on Monday.
Abra election officer Vanessa Roncal assumed the reins over the province on Saturday afternoon, and had convened a special meeting to replace Senior Superintendent Ernesto Gaab with Senior Supt. Joseph Adnol, the Ifugao police director.
“I’ve worked with Gaab and it pained me to sign his replacement order. But it was the only way to express to voters that the elections would be calm, credible and without controversy,” Roncal said.
Voter turnout in Abra ranges from 60 percent to 70 percent of 154,962 registered voters, but more people may show up on Election Day today “if we can prove to them that they are secure,” Roncal said.
On Sunday, churchgoers were reminded about voting with God’s agenda in a homily at the Bangued Cathedral.
Residents and political candidates have blamed the police for their failure to address election-related complaints since December.
Gaab took the brunt of the complaints on May 5 during a candidates’ forum.
Led by congressional candidate Joy Bernos, daughter of detained Bangued Mayor Dominic Valera, the candidates said Gaab and his men favored their rivals, who belong to the family of reelectionist Abra Representative Cecilia Luna.
Valera was charged with the murder of his rival’s driver during an April 29 gunfight. Gunpowder tests reportedly cleared Valera, who is in a hospital in Metro Manila.
Bernos said police failed to charge one of Luna’ sons, Ryan, who is running against her father.
Bernos said incidents of political harassment have been taking place since 2009, but police have failed to respond adequately.
The candidates also blamed a top police official for protecting the Luna clan. On Friday, the Cordillera police issued a statement denying allegations that the police official, now based outside the province, had a hand in the designation of police officers in Abra.
Roncal said the additional 200 policemen and 60 soldiers sent to the province to beef up security were not enough.
She said officials in the towns of San Isidro, Dolores and La Paz had asked the Philippine National Police to increase its security detail.
The Comelec also announced the disqualification of Tineg mayoral candidate Cromwell Luna, son of Representative Luna, who was implicated in an illegal gun possession case when the vehicle carrying six of his men and a town councilor yielded weapons on May 1.
In an en banc session, it voided on May 4 the certificate of candidacy of the young Luna, citing questions about his residency status in Tineg town.
It was not clear if Comelec would act on Cromwell’s motion for reconsideration, but his name is still in the official ballot, Roncal said.
Another mayoral candidate, Lenin Benwaren, whose name is also in the ballot, was earlier disqualified due to a pending case but he had also asked the Comelec to reconsider, she said.
Teachers and poll officials spent Sunday morning conducting inventories of the election materials that arrived by truck.
Roncal said the Comelec on Sunday was waiting for results of the testing and sealing of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines from four precincts in Tineg, two precincts in Lacub and two precincts in Malibcong.
She said Bangued reported three damaged machines but these have been replaced.
In Nueva Ecija, lawyer Emmanuel Ignacio, Comelec assistant director in Central Luzon, said there was no compelling reason the province should be placed under Comelec control.
“I am here to tell you that based on our assessment there was no need to place Nueva Ecija under Comelec control,” Ignacio told police and military officials on Saturday.
He said that compared to the 2004 and 2007 elections, Nueva Ecija has an improved peace and order situation in this year’s election period.
“Up to the last 48 hours, we have no election-related violence,” Ignacio said.
In the 2007 elections, the province recorded 66 election-related incidents 15 days before Election Day.
In Isabela, Gamu Mayor Fernando Cumigad, whose house yielded several firearms following a police search on Saturday, was released on Sunday after he posted bail for illegal gun possession and violation of the election gun ban charges.
Police found three M-16 rifles, three shotguns, an M-14 rifle, three 9-mm pistols, a .45 cal. gun, nine rifle grenades and bullets in Cumigad’s house after a five-hour search.
Cumigad said the guns have licenses, except for the rifle grenades. Police said some of the licenses were expired while the other documents were being verified.
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