Comelec tags Basilan as ‘hotly contested area’ for 2022 polls

The Commission on Elections has considered the province of Basilan as a “highly contested area” for Eleksyon 2022, due to poll-related violence, GMA News’ "Unang Balita" reported Thursday.

Citing information from the Comelec, Unang Balita said that all the 11 municipalities of Basilan are highly contested.

Meanwhile, a total of 41 barangays in the province are being monitored as "areas of concern."

Thus, the Comelec has coordinated with the police and the military about the situation.

On the other hand, authorities said they have enough personnel to maintain peace in areas in the province considered as hotly-contested.

At a virtual press conference Thursday afternoon, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez explained that the poll body is not using the term “hotly-contested” area, as this language is mostly used to describe the “political landscape” in a locality rather than a description of the security situation.

He said the Comelec usually tags a locality as an “area of concern,” “area of immediate concern,” or “area under the Comelec control.”

So far, Jimenez said the poll body has not declared yet any locality as an “area of concern.”

“Wala pa kaming naidedeklarang (We haven’t declared any localities yet as) areas of concern but it is possible that… the local Comelec in Basilan will be recommending that Basilan be declared an area of concern…possibly in coordination with local PNP and AFP,” he said.

“This will have to be recommended first to the central committee here in Manila,” he added.

Jimenez said the Comelec security committee, which will discuss these matters, will conduct its first meeting on Friday

Among the reported election-related violence in Basilan were the killing of Al-Barka Mayor Darussalam Lajid, and the attempted bomb attack on a house of a mayoral aspirant in the municipality of Akbar .

In December last year, the Philippine National Police said 488 towns and 58 cities across the country have been initially considered as hotspots for Eleksyon 2022. —LBG/AOL, GMA News