BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL
KALIBO, Aklan - Provincial Election Supervisor Atty. Ian Lee Ananoria said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has yet to identify towns in Aklan as election hot spots.
Philippine National Police (PNP) earlier listed 7 out of 17 municipalities in Aklan placed under election watchlist category 1, citing, election-related violence recorded for the past three local and national elections.
Ananoria said the Comelec will assess and monitor the situation in hotly contested towns of Aklan identified by the Police Regional Office (PRO)-6 in next year's elections . Police has classified the towns of Batan, Buruanga, Malinao, New Washington, Banga, Ibajay and the capital town of Kalibo in the election watchlist.
Under the criteria set by the PNP, areas are classified under category 1 if the possibility of politically motivated violent incidents is high while in category II if there are serious threats from armed groups and the local communist fronts.
"Comelec has yet to consider areas of immediate concerns or classify towns as hot spots in Aklan. Towns are categorized as possible poll hotspots if there are history of intense election related incidents or political rivalries which could lead to failure of elections," he stressed. in local radio interviews.
Ananoria said the PNP and the Comelec are set to meet for a command conference to discuss and finalize the watchlist of areas tagged as election hot spots in Western Visayas before the start of election period on January 10.
PNP said 76 towns across the country are initially listed as election hot spots in the May 10, 2010 polls.
Supt. Ranulfo Demiar of PRO-6 said 48 towns and cities in Region 6 are classified as “areas of election concern” with the province of Iloilo with 16, Negros Occidental - 10, Antique - 8, Aklan – 7, Capiz – 5, and Guimaras – 2.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has extended the voter registration for the 2010 elections to January 9 after it granted the petition of Kabataan party.
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