CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga-A total of 6,024,929 residents of Central Luzon are eligible to vote in today’s barangay polls- the third highest in the entire archipelago.
“Bulacan has the most number of voters with 1,543,058 followed by Nueva Ecija- 1,413,079; Pampanga- 1,284,984; Tarlac- 722,626; Bataan-469,227; Zambales-459,678; and Aurora-132,297,” Commission on Elections Regional Election Director Rafael Olano disclosed.
“Central Luzon has 19,050 clustered precincts in 2,817 voting centers of its 3,102 barangays. 57,150 teachers will serve as members of the Board of Tellers or three per precinct,” Olano added.
Some 24,816 positions will be up for grabs consisting of 3,102 punong barangays and 21,714 kagawads.
Philippine National Police (PNP) earlier placed 25 villages in Central Luzon under its “1st priority” watch list.
The province of Nueva Ecija topped the list with 10 followed by Bulacan with 9, Tarlac- 3, Pampanga-2, and Aurora-1.
“We have considered a lot of things in placing certain barangays under our 1st priority. This included intense political rivalry, election-related violent incidents in 2007 and 2010, degree of affection relative to the insurgency problem, presence of criminal gangs and gun-for-hire groups in the area, number of loose and not renewed firearms, and presence of partisan armed groups,” PNP Deputy Regional Director for Operations PSSUPT. Manuel Gaerlan.
546 villages are under their 2nd priority while the remaining 2,531 are under their 3rd priority.
“We have formed mediation groups to diffuse any conflict among contending candidates. It is composed of members from religious sectors, academe and informal leaders in the locality,” Gaerlan disclosed.
Meanwhile, Philippine Army has deployed 1,311 troops in Central Luzon to aid around 5,000 police forces in ensuring peaceful village elections.
“Since the start of the election period last September 28, we had been supporting PNP in manning over 24,321 checkpoints region wide,” 7th Infantry Division (7ID) Chief Operations Officer Col. Ernesto Torres disclosed.
7ID has established a Division Election Monitoring Assistant Center (DEMAC), which is chaired by newly installed chief of staff Colonel Ronald Villanueva, in its headquarters in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija to supervise the preparations and conduct of security operations by the tasked units. (Carlo Lorenzo J. Datu)
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