MikeLigalig.com

By Bohol Chronicle

The series of reports on the entry of armed men to the province and political bickering prompted the Provincial Board to pass a resolution requesting the Commission on Elections to declare Bohol under Comelec control.

PB Member Josil Trabajo, vice-chair of the PB Committee on Peace and Order, pointed out that the "resolution will serve as a proactive measure to advance and strengthen security measures by our local enforcers and other government agencies and maintain peace and order situation in Bohol".

Copies of the resolution, which was approved en masse during the regular session of PB on Tuesday last week, were furnished to Comelec-Manila and all concerned agencies "for information and appropriate, immediate action".

Trabajo cited in the resolution he authored, recent incidents and intelligence reports implying impending trouble that involve politicians and armed men.
         
Among the alarming reports include intelligence reports from the army mentioning entry of unknown personalities suspected to be "Turistang Hukbo" or "balikbayans", and arrivals of armed groups suspected to be members of the CPP/NPA/NDF deployed to actually extort in the guise of permit to campaign fees.

The resolution, which was approved en masse during the regular session of PB on Tuesday last week, also cited a possibility that some politicians may have hired these armed men as "goons" to harass voters during the national and local elections, in their quest for victory.

Trabajo also cited the Candijay incident where police caught seven armed men, who claimed to marines and PASG agents, violating the Comelec gun ban.

Aside from being a police matter, the incident also tends to spark political rift in the town as Mayor Sergio Amora Jr. Candijay tagged Vice-Mayor Ann Piquero-Dy as the mastermind, considering that she serves as executive director of the NGO that owns the ambulance that the armed men boarded in their attempt to flee

"Black propaganda and character assassination between political rivals continue to escalate as the election day approaches," Trabajo noted.

These scenarios calls for the necessity to "adopt a resolution requesting Comelec-Manila to declare the province of Bohol under Comelec control".

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