THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is focusing on the security aspect of the 2025 polls amid the series of election-related incidents.
Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Tuesday the commission is coordinating closely with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to help prevent violence from marring the May elections.
In the latest incident, Sulu provincial election supervisor Vidzfar Julie Amil survived an assassination attempt in Zamboanga City last week. His brother, former barangay chairman Naser Amil, was killed in the attack.
Garcia said the assassination try was election-related.
He said all election-related incidents are considered law enforcement matters, pending the start of the election period on Jan. 12, 2025.
That is when the Comelec assumes full authority, including the decision to declare a place under its control.
Garcia said that once an area is placed under Comelec control, the commission is authorized to deploy more police and military forces or even take charge of a local government unit (LGU).
Commission on Election (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia answers questions from the media regarding the ambush of Sulu Provincial Election Supervisor Vidzfar Julie Amil at the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros on Dec. 23, 2024. Garcia called on the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to dismantle private armies during the election period to avoid further violence. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Commission on Election (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia answers questions from the media regarding the ambush of Sulu Provincial Election Supervisor Vidzfar Julie Amil at the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros on Dec. 23, 2024. Garcia called on the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to dismantle private armies during the election period to avoid further violence. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Commission on Election (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia answers questions from the media regarding the ambush of Sulu Provincial Election Supervisor Vidzfar Julie Amil at the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros on Dec. 23, 2024. Garcia called on the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to dismantle private armies during the election period to avoid further violence. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Commission on Election (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia answers questions from the media regarding the ambush of Sulu Provincial Election Supervisor Vidzfar Julie Amil at the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros on Dec. 23, 2024. Garcia called on the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to dismantle private armies during the election period to avoid further violence. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Commission on Election (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia answers questions from the media regarding the ambush of Sulu Provincial Election Supervisor Vidzfar Julie Amil at the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros on Dec. 23, 2024. Garcia called on the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to dismantle private armies during the election period to avoid further violence. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Practically, we can do everything to ensure that the people will not be intimidated or harassed and maintain peace and order.
Garcia said he has also asked Amil to report to the Comelec head office in Manila after the Christmas break to shed more light on the ambush.
Aside from Sulu, the Comelec will also closely monitor the situation in areas where local election officials have received death threats for not giving in to the requests for political favors of politicians or candidates.
Garcia said Amil knew the politician who wanted him dead and had even challenged the politician in his Facebook post.
Garcia added that Zamboanga police already have some leads on the identities of the motorcycle-riding gunmen who shot at Amil’s vehicle.
“Our PNP is on top of the case, but we are also appealing, at the same time, to effect the immediate arrest and thereafter file the corresponding charges against the suspects because the longer it takes, the sooner the public will lose its confidence, including us at the Comelec,” he said.
The poll body will provide security to election officers assigned in critical areas, Garcia said.
Amil’s ambush was the third incident after the period for filing the certificates of candidacy ended on Oct. 8.
“Two election officers already died. The third one is a brother of an election officer, and he (victim) is considered as part of the Comelec,” Garcia said.
Last November, Mark Orlando Villacer II, the acting election officer of Nunungan, Lanao del Norte, was killed in Salvador, Lanao del Norte.
Earlier, John Nico Pandoy, the assistant election officer of Isulan town who was named acting election officer of President Quirino, both in Sultan Kudarat province, was also killed by motorcycle-riding men.
In an election-related development, the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party (WPP) accused the Comelec of inconsistently applying its rules on nuisance candidates.
In a statement on Tuesday, WPP President Sonny Matula called out Comelec’s decision to allow televangelist Pastor Apollo Quiboloy to run for office under the WPP banner without the party’s authorization, at the same time disqualifying Sultan Subair Guinthum Mustapha, a respected Muslim leader and Sultan of Marawi, as a nuisance candidate.
Matula, who is also running for senator, said the contrasting rulings show that the Comelec has a double standard.
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