BAGUIO CITY – The Commission on Elections-Cordillera Administrative Region (Comelec-CAR) said Thursday the change of leadership in the Abra Provincial Police Office was approved by the Comelec Central Office in Manila.
“They sought the central office’s approval and was given a thumbs up. The request went straight to the central office,” lawyer Julius Torres, Comelec-CAR director, said in a private message.
LOPEZ (FB)
On Wednesday, the Police Regional Office (PRO)-Cordillera administered the turnover of leadership of the Abra Police Provincial Office from Police Col. Gilbert Fati-ig to Police Col. Froiland Lopez.
During an election period, movement, hiring, and dismissal of personnel is prohibited, except with the approval of the Comelec due to a compelling reason.
It can be recalled that residents raised the issue of placing the province under Comelec control due to a spate of election-related violence.
League of Mayors in the Philippines President La Paz Mayor Joseph Santo Niño Bernos cancelled the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) game in the capital town of Bangued last March 29 which, he said in a letter to the MPBL commissioner, was due to a series of shooting incidents.
Abra police records showed 18 such incidents from Jan. 12 to March 29 – nine in Bangued, four in Tayum, two in Pilar, and one each in La Paz, Langiden, and San Juan.
Eleven are under investigation, one was amicably settled, and seven are under preliminary investigation.
Twelve people died in the shooting incidents and eight were injured.
There were also four grenade incidents, all unsolved.
The incidents are 46.15 percent increase from the 13 cases from Oct. 31, 2024 to Jan. 11, 2025.
Lopez served as Abra police chief from 2023 to 2024 during the barangay election.
Police Brig. Gen. David Peredo Jr., PRO-Cordillera director, said that the turnover aimed to ensure the safety of the people of Abra and that the May national and local elections would be peaceful and the voters would have the freedom to freely choose their candidates.