The 24 municipalities in the province which were earlier reported to be placed as Election Watchlist Area (EWA) are now being reviewed as far as its peace and order condition is concerned especially that the campaign period has started last Friday.
Bohol PNP Prov’l Director Julius Gornez said the towns are placed under close surveillance by the intelligence unit in order to make the final list of the towns as EWA.
Gornez made this statement during the meeting of the Provincial Peace and Order Council at the Executive Session Room of the new Provincial Capitol last Friday.
Lt. Col. Joel Malig, Jr., commanding officer of the 47th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army assured that the full force of the PA will maintain its integrity by staying neutral in the coming election, including during this campaign period.
He issued the assurance during the same meeting presided by Gov. Edgar Chatto as council chairman.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Bohol said there are no hotspots identified in Bohol in the forthcoming mid-term elections on May 13, 2019, but police authorities say otherwise.
Police initially identified a total of 24 towns what may be considered as part of the watrchlist hotspots classified into four but these areas out of 48 towns and a city, the biggest number so far in the entire region 7. But these were not named yet.
Cebu province has 17; Negros Oriental,10; and Siquijor, one. Three cities in the region, mostly located in Cebu – Cebu city, Mandaue City and Lapu-lapu – each has one.
Out of the 48 towns and a city, Bohol posts a total of 24 belonging to a green category or no election concern.
There are 18 towns under category Yellow or election areas of concern; six under Orange or election areas of immediate concern; and none under red or election areas of grave concern in Bohol.
Cebu province has 33 under green; nine under yellow; eight under orange and none under red, police data showed.
Negros Oriental posts three under green; none under yellow; four under orange; and six under red.
The aforesaid cities have one each under the yellow category.
All in all, the region posts a total of 78 under green; 30 under yellow; 18 under orange; and six under red.
It will be recalled that a candidate for councilor in Talibon town was gunned down recently by still unknown assailants that police probers still are facing a blank wall as to the motivation of the killing.
Meanwhile, a total of 37 barangays have been added to drug-free areas in Bohol, Gov. Chatto was quoted as saying during the government-paid weekly conference last week.
There are now a total of 358 from previous 321 barangays considered as drug-cleared following their validation conducted by regional Oversight Committee led by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) along with Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Health, Philippine National Police and representatives of Local Government Units.
Bohol has a total of 1,109 barangays of the 47 towns and one city.
PDEA, earlier, said that Bohol was number five in national level and number one in region 7 in terms of drug affectation in the barangays. (with reports from rvo)