By Mary Judaline Partlow/PNA
DUMAGUETE CITY — The Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office (NOPPO) is still awaiting the official release from the Regional Joint Security Control Center (RJSCC) on the election watch list areas (EWAs) in the province in relation to the upcoming May polls.
“So far, ongoing pa ang validation ngayon kaya wala pa ang list sa EWAs (validation of the EWAs is still ongoing). I can’t say when it will be released but hopefully this week or next week,” said Senior Supt. Raul Tacaca, provincial police director, on Monday.
According to him, the police chiefs from the different towns and cities have been asked to submit recommendations but the process “goes through the intelligence personnel from the stations and the provincial office”.
“They will be conducting a validation of the areas recommended at yun ang isa-submit naming sa regional office (and that is what we are going to submit to the regional office),” he explained.
The Comelec chairs the RJSCC while the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) are co-chairs, Tacaca said.
The RJSCC will be the one to release the joint resolution on the EWAs in the different provinces, he explained.
Tacaca declined to give an estimate on the number of barangays in Negros Oriental that are being recommended for inclusion in the watch list, saying he does not want to pre-empt the advisory from higher authorities.
He said, however, that some barangays considered as EWAs in the previous elections are also being considered this time.
On the categorization of EWAs, it is the poll body that has set the standards and modified the classification of these with the use of a color-coding scheme, to include green, orange, yellow, and red categories, Tacaca said.
As to the parameters to be considered in the identification of the EWAs, these would include “intense political rivalry, the presence of armed groups, the presence of terrorists, and the possible use or deployment of PAGs (private armed groups),” he said.
Negros Oriental was among a number of provinces that were tagged as election hotspots in the 2016 polls.
