Members of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the past few days, have been visiting several areas in the country where usual armed conflicts occur ahead of the elections to ensure that peace is observed and will prevail until the actual day of voting.
In a press briefing on Thursday, March 31, Commissioner George Irwin Garcia said that they are currently monitoring 300 candidate areas of concern in relation to the upcoming May 2022 polls. He mentioned however that these are not yet considered "hotspots" since there is still no en banc resolution declaring these areas of concern.
Garcia stated that Chairman Saidamen Pangarungan instructed the poll body to conduct a reverification which will be a separate assessment from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) since they have varying evaluations.
He added that although the AFP and PNP are both recommendatory bodies, the poll body has to come up with its own determination of the area.
"Hindi po kasi ganun kadali na mag-declare ng hotspot sa isang area (It's not that easy to declare a certain area as a hotspot)," he said.
"We want to be very, very careful because we do not want to hurt the regularity of the lives of the people in that particular area. But definitely we will make the announcement the soonest," he added.
Garcia said that this declaration can affect businesses, tourism as well as the lives of the people living there since their movements will be restricted.
Meanwhile, Garcia that they are set to visit Abra next where a recent conflict occurred. He said that he will go there along with Pangarungan not because of what happened but because they want to instill discipline and peace and show that the Comelec will be in full control of the situation.
They are also set to visit Basilan, Sulu as well as Tawi-Tawi not because there is an ongoing conflict there but due to the fact that these are traditional grounds of violence, according to Garcia. They are also planning to go to General Santos to visit Cotabato City and Maguindanao.
"We wanted to be there because we want to emphasize to them ituloy na lang yung peace dito sa lugar niyo (continue the peace here in your area)," he said.
Garcia shared that politicians were elated by their previous visits to other areas as more checkpoints were hoisted there which were formerly lacking.