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Comelec to announce list of areas under its control on May 3


A Commission on Elections official on Friday said the poll body will be able to announce the list of areas placed under its control on May 3, exactly a week before the May 10 elections. "It should be resolved by the end of next week... the Monday after [May 3], we should come out with a resolution," Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal told reporters at the Comelec headquarters in Intramuros, Manila. Earlier in the day, the Comelec en banc held a hearing on petitions to place some areas in the provinces of Abra, Nueva Ecija, and Zamboanga Del Sur under Comelec control. The requests were made by Abra Mayors Edwin Crisologo of Tineg, and Dominic Valera of Gnagued; Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali; and Zamboanga Del Sur Vice Mayor Wilson Nandang. Comelec Commissioner Lucenito Tagle earlier said the local officials who requested that their areas be placed under Comelec control cited the history of election-related violence as basis for doing so. Placing an area under Comelec control means that the commissioner to be assigned in the province would be the acting governor. It would also give the commissioner a say in running the province, as well as all the law enforcement agencies in the province. Abra During the en banc hearing, Abra provincial election supervisor (PES) Vanessa Roncal said the province has always been "notoriously declared" under Comelec control. Roncal, however, that even if some municipalities were placed under Comelec control, the same police officers stayed. For his part, Philippine National Police acting provincial director Ernesto Gaab said there was "no need" to place Abra under Comelec control. "We can manage the situation," he said, adding that the PNP has given the province additional police personnel for the elections. But Esterica Cordero, lawyer for both Crisologo and Valera, said Gaab has been accused of causing trouble in the province and being "biased" for some candidates. Larrazabal has asked the police officer to submit a counterargument. Nueva Ecija On the other hand, Nueva Ecija PES Grace Velasco said their province had "always come to mind" when people talk about political violence. "The reality is that Nueva Ecija has a long history of political violence as stated by our police director," Velasco said. She even cited an election where a newly-elected mayor and vice mayor in Lubao were shot dead in a cockpit in front of hundreds of people. But Larrazabal said that an incumbent government official, like Umali, asking for Comelec control is "quite unusual." "Historically, elections in Nueva Ecija has been quite interesting," he noted. Larrazabal had served in 2007 as PES in Bulacan, a province near Nueva Ecija. Other provinces Larrazabal said they have asked personnel from the PNP and the Comelec field office to issue a comment regarding the petitions. On the other hand, the hearing regarding some areas in Cotabato, Maguindanao, and Sultan Kudarat to be placed under Comelec control has been reset to Monday. — LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV

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