Datu Odin Sinsuat under Comelec control but not Maguindanao del Norte

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THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) will not place the whole province of Maguindanao del Norte under its control, saying that its focus is only on the municipality of Datu Odin Sinsuat.

"Declaring the whole province of Northern Maguindanao [under Comelec control] at this point is negative. We cannot place the whole province under Comelec control because it would be unfair to the other municipalities with no election related incidents," Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Thursday.

"It would be unfair to municipalities who were in the red category before but now in the orange category, from red to yellow, suddenly you place the whole province under Comelec control. This is too unfair," added Garcia.

Garcai pointed out that while it is the recommendation of the Comelec personnel on the field and the law enforcement authorities to place the whole province under Comelec control, it is still the Commission en banc that has the final say.

Garcia said the Commission en banc is unanimous in its decision during Wednesday's regular session but declined to give the details in the resolution, which is still undergoing some refinements that includes the setting of parameters on what a controlled area can do and cannot do.

"We want that if we come with a resolution; what can Comelec specifically do? Do we have control on the disposition of funds of a particular municipality or city hall? Do we have disposition in the replacement of the chief of police and other authorities in the area? Can we transfer the employees of a municipal government? Can we add more checkpoints?" added Garcia.

The poll chief pointed out that in the past elections, the authority of the Comelec in areas placed under its control was never defined.

"At this point the focus of the Comelec is on Datu Odin Sinsuat, nothing on Maguindanao del Norte," he added.

Earlier, Garcia said that all seven members of the Commission en banc approved his recommendation to place Datu Odin Sinsuat under its control following the ambush slay of lawyer Maceda Abo, the election officer of said town, and her husband.

Garcia also said that once Odin Sinsuat is placed under Comelec control, all local Comelec officials would be provided with security details, increase the presence of security personnel, more checkpoints and, if needed, suspend all gun ban exemptions in the area and confiscate all illegal firearms.

"Expect an increase in military and police presence," Garcia said even as he clarified that there should be a balance in the presence of law enforcement personnel because it is not acceptable that there would be more policemen and military than civilians so as not to cause fear among the populace.

The killing of Abo and her husband was the fourth election-related violence incident in Mindanao.
Last December, Sulu Comelec provincial supervisor Vidzfar Julie Amil and his elder brother Naser Amil, 57, were also ambushed by unidentified motorcycle-riding at Villa Santa Maria, Brgy. Sta. Maria, Zamboanga City.
Last November, Mark Orlando Villacer II, acting election officer of Nunungan, Lanao del Norte was brutally killed in Salvador, Lanao del Norte.
Before that, John Nico Pandoy was killed by unidentified motorcycle-riding men. He was the assistant election officer of Isulan town but detailed as acting election officer of President Quirino, both in Sultan Kudarat province, Garcia also disclosed that there were two other areas, one in Northern Luzon, and the other in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) that they were considering to be placed under Comelec control.
Under Comelec Resolution 10757 an area can be put under Comelec control if there is a history of/or current intense rivalry among contending parties. Such rivalries could motivate people to engage in violent acts; incidents of politically motivated violence involving aspirants/candidates and other supporters.
Other factors that may prompt the placing of an area under Comelec control include the presence of violence that may be facilitated by the employment of private armed groups (PAGs); and the presence of serious armed threats posed by communist terrorist groups (CTGs) and/or other threat groups including the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), the Maute Group, and other analogous threat groups.