PROCOR confident of peaceful polls in Cordillera

February 13, 2022 Metro BLISTT

BAGUIO CITY – The head of the Police Regional Office-Cordillera (PROCOR) said the Philippine National Police is confident that the region will have a peaceful election period.
Brig. Gen. Ronald Lee, P in a press briefing on Wednesday said “iba na ang sitwasyon ngayon sa region (the situation in the region is different).”
He said the government has done its part and continuously prepared for a peaceful poll. “Many of the insurgents that contribute to the peace and order problem have surrendered and others continue to embrace peace,” he said.
He added that far-flung communities that used to be inaccessible have been given farm-to-market roads that allow residents to get government services and bring their products to the market.
He also mentioned the several firearms surrendered and confiscated as part of the continuing effort for “Oplan Katok” (knock). The officer also said that there are no active private armed groups (PAGs) operating anywhere in the region which has been known to cause political killings and injuries in the past conducts of elections.
Capt. Marnie Abellanida, PROCor information officer on the sidelines of the press conference explained that the government programs in the
provinces have brought in jobs, preventing people who have no work from accepting “hitman” jobs.
“Namo-monitor sila na mga dating under-study or connected sa dating mga member ng PAGS pero hindi tumutuloy. Bakit ka bga naman
papasok sa ganung trabaho kung may pagkakakitaan ka ng maayos (People who used to be connected or were under-study of PAGs have not pursued.
Why will you go into that kind of livelihood if you have a legal, decent job,” he said. The document provided to the media shows that 58 out of the
75 towns in the region are categorized as green in terms of area of concern.
There are 11 categorized as yellow, 6 are orange and 2 are red. Based on Comelec guidelines, an area is categorized as green when there are no security concerns or is relatively peaceful and orderly.
Yellow it there are domestic terror groups, intense partisan political rivalry, possible employment of armed groups by a candidate, and if the area is declared under Comelec control.
Orange category arises in the presence of combination between two categories below yellow and existence of serious armed threats needing the augmentation of uniformed personnel.
A red category is immediately declared if there is an existence of one or more factors under yellow combined with serious armed threats.
Jimmy Ceralde /ABN