Rizal in Cagayan placed under red alert category

TUGUEGARAO CITY — Prompted by the recent killing of Mayor Joel Ruma, the Cagayan Valley Regional Joint Security Control Center (RJSCC) has placed Rizal town under the red alert category or under grave concern.

Lawyer Ederlino Tabilas, Cagayan Valley regional election director, said in a Monday news briefing that Rizal town in Cagayan was reclassified from orange to red alert category due to the killing of Ruma on April 23.

The RJSCC has also reclassified San Pablo town in Isabela due to a series of shootings, including the slay try on council bet Mark Jhon Paul Tipon and two others identified as John Lloyd Duran and Mark Francis Antonio on April 23.

BGen. Antonio Marallag Jr., Cagayan Valley regional police director, also cited the preparedness of police officers in the Regional Joint Security Control Center and the Regional Committee on Kontra-Bigay (RCKB) meeting on Friday.

Election officials cited in its resolution that the election areas of concern under the yellow category include areas with the occurrence of suspected election-related incident (ERI) in the last two elections provided there was no participation of domestic terror groups; existence of intense partisan political rivalry with no participation of domestic terror groups; possible employment of private armed groups (PAGs) or potential PAGs by candidates in the area; occurrence of politically motivated ERI in the current election period provided there is no participation of domestic terror groups; or the area has been previously declared under Comelec control.

For the orange category, there is a combination of two or more factors under yellow category or there are serious armed threats posed by the communist guerrillas, and/or other threat groups as may be declared by the competent authority.

The red category provides for the existence of one or more factors described under Yellow Category together with serious armed threats posed by the Communist Terrorist Group (CTG), and/or other threat groups as may be declared by the competent authority under Orange Category; or declaration by other government agencies concerned that either one of the grounds for the declaration of Comelec Control exists.

In response to this heightened risk, additional police forces and personnel from other law enforcement agencies are expected to be deployed in Rizal and San Pablo to ensure the safety and security of voters, electoral staff, and the people, Marallag added.

"We are ready to address this challenge head-on. Our goal is to ensure peaceful, credible, and orderly elections across the region," he said, adding that police have maintained non-political leanings in doing their duties.

The interagency has formed deployment plans, interagency coordination, and preventive security measures for the region's election hotspots.

Meanwhile, Cagayan Valley sent 176 police forces as augmentation force to the elections in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

The police officers will be working as standby members of the Special Electoral Board of the Comelec. They were trained on their election duties. They will stay in the BARMM until May 25.

Meanwhile, the regional police officials have been saddened with the dismissal of the complaint against two men accused of shooting on April 25 of a council bet and two others in San Pablo, Isabela.