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Comelec to ensure no election failure despite threat of Kanlaon eruption

• GILBERT P. BAYORAN

The Commission on Elections ordered the Provincial Joint Security Coordinating Centers (PJSCCs) of Negros Occidental and Oriental to come up contingency plans to ensure that the elections will push through on May 12 this year, despite threats of a Kanlaon volcano eruption.

Atty. Lionel Marco Castillano, Comelec regional director for Negros Island Region, disclosed on Monday that the PJSCCs were given one month to formulate contingency plans, for approval by the Regional Joint Security Coordinating Center of NIR.

“Our strategy is to conduct the elections where the evacuees are,” Castillano said.

He added that the transfer of voting precincts will need a Comelec en banc resolution.

As of January 13, the Department of Social Welfare Development reported that there are 3,621 families, composed of 11,371 persons, that are either staying inside and outside of evacuation centers in Negros Island, due to the December 9 eruption of Kanlaon volcano.

The election contingency plans will include the determination of the number of troops needed for deployment, Castillano further said.

In a statement, Maj. Gen. Marion Sison, 3rd Infantry Division commander, declared that Western and Central Visayas are currently free from influence of the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army, and National Democratic Front.

“We dismantled the two guerilla fronts, and now the 3ID is gearing toward the declaration of Panay Island in Stable Internal Peace Security status,” Sison said.

The Negros Island was earlier declared by the 3ID in a status of Stable Internal Peace Security, following the dismantling of five NPA guerilla fronts, and its organized mass-based organizations.

Sison also warned politicians of collaborating with the NPA remnants, stressing that such alliances would ultimately lead to their downfall.*

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