Mindanaotoday.com | Comelec: No poll hot spot in MisOr
ALL areas in Misamis Oriental, the third vote-rich province in Mindanao with over a million electorates, are under “green” category, a Commission on Elections official said Saturday, April 23.
Lawyer Aleli Dayo Ramirez, Comelec provincial election officer, disclosed this in her welcome remarks in a candidates’ forum at Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan.
As of Thursday last week, the Comelec and the Philippine National Police placed 114 local governments as “red areas’ across the country.
“Green” category refers to areas that are “generally peaceful and orderly” since these do not have security concerns unlike “red areas” which exhibit grave concern due to serious armed threats which may warrant declaration under Comelec control.
Areas under “yellow” category are those with past incidents of election-related violence, previously under Comelec control, and possible employment of partisan armed groups.
Areas with immediate concern under armed threats are under “orange” category.
Ramirez said not one of 23 towns and two cities in her area of responsibility as well as Cagayan de Oro is in the “areas of concern,” hence Misamis Oriental is dubbed as the “techno hub” for defective vote-counting machines (VCM) and secure digital (SD) cards.
This techno hub, she said, shall cater to the needs – technical assistance, repairs and reconfiguration – of Northern Mindanao as nearby regions Caraga and Zamboanga Peninsula.
“We are ready for the May 9 elections,” said Ramirez, whose turf covers 3,772 precincts in 407 centers while Cagayan de Oro, which is under supervision of a city election officer, has 532 precincts in 60 centers.
Misamis Oriental, including Cagayan de Oro, has 1,037,245 registered voters, just behind Zamboanga del Sur (1,188,585) and Davao del Sur (1,551,208) as having the most electorates in Mindanao.
Ramirez said the VCMs and SD cards are already stored in the provincial hub while official ballots with the provincial and city treasurer offices. Final sealing of the VCRs is set on May 6.
In a “Meet the Press” at the Cagayan de Oro Press Club held earlier, Lt. Col. Michelle Olaivar, Police Regional Office-10 spokesperson, said of the 6,538 police personnel deployed all over the region last month, 1,872 of them were in Misamis Oriental to augment existing strength of provincial, city and municipal police units.
These deployments came after the Regional Special Operations Task Group (RSOTG) was activated and the Regional Joint Security Control Center (RJSCC) was formed with the PNP, 4th Infantry Division and the Comelec directly involved.