Peace and Order Council seeks COMELEC control over Maasin City, 3
LGUs
BY ERNA GORNE (PIA Southern
Leyte)
April 28, 2007
MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte
– The Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) here in a meeting held
recently, passed a resolution recommending (1) city and (3) municipalities to be
under COMELEC control. These include the city of Maasin, the municipality of
Tomas Oppus, the municipality of Lilo-an and the municipality of St. Bernard,
all of Southern Leyte.
This, the resolution stated,
is to ensure fair and orderly elections in these places.
Several reports reached the
PPOC confirmed citings of armed men allegedly coming from other regions of the
country have already surreptitiously arrived at the province, it was reported
during the PPOC's regular meeting.
It was also learned that there
are witnesses who could attest the identity of the two of the alleged goons.
It was further noted that for
three consecutive PPOC meetings held within this year, it was consistently
reported that unidentified armed men were cited at Barangay Hinapo, Tomas Oppus
and at the municipality of Lilo-an.
It was further discussed that
the province is historically an election hot spot considering selected
municipalities were also under COMELEC control in the past elections. Other
election-related violence in the province includes the alleged Congressional
election cheating in 1987, the helicopter strafing in 1998 and the killing of
then Hinunangan mayoralty candidate by the surname Laplap.
|
Maasin registered voters now over 43,000
