GOONS, GANGS ‘OFF THE RADAR’ IN CORDILLERA FOR NOW: JRSCCC

April 4, 2022 Headlines

BAGUIO CITY – The Joint Regional Security Control Center Command (JRSCCC) in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) said the region remains peaceful over a month before the elections.
In a press conference on Monday, Col. Elmer Ragay, chief regional staff of the Police Regional Office-Cordillera (PROCor), said “Cordillera remains generally peaceful but we are not putting our guards down. We are continuously monitoring the situation in the different areas in the region.”
A copy of the report given by the PROCor to local media shows that from the start of the election period on January 9 until March 27, there was no election-related violence recorded in the Cordillera.
“There were no monitored or reported PAGs (private armed groups), criminal gang members, and gun for hire,” Ragay said. However, a police report showed there were 13 persons arrested for violation of the election gun ban while 13 firearms were confiscated. It added that on the first week of March, a candidate running for the provincial board in Mountain Province was killed but the incident was traced to a land dispute and not related to the elections.
Ragay also said, “there was no incident involving elected government officials.” “We are continuously monitoring all areas, especially those with possibilities of election-related incidents due to intense political rivalries or the areas which have historical incidents of election-related violence,” he said. Ragay said in Abra, they
are looking at the capital town of Bangued as well as Lagayan, as areas that must be closely watched by the police.
In Kalinga, they are closely monitoring the towns of Tinglayan, Rizal, Lubuagan, Pasil, Balbalan, and Tabuk City as areas with possibilities of election-related incidents, he said.
For his part, Brig. Gen. Santiago Enginco, commander of the Philippine Army’s 503rd Infantry Brigade, said as part of the campaign for a peaceful election, they conduct joint operations with the Philippine National Police (PNP) especially in far-flung communities with low law enforcement deployment which could be influenced by the communist terrorist groups (CTGs).
“We have no PAGs but we have the NPA (New People’s Army) which could become PAGs,” he said.
Enginco said they are vigilant against attempts of CTGs to impose permit-to-campaign fees from electoral candidates.
In the same press conference, lawyer Ederlino Tabilas, regional director of the Commission on Elections (Comelec)-CAR and chairman of the JRSCCC, said “I am confident in saying that we are in a stage where we can say we can have a peaceful, clean and safe election.”
(PNA)