GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 24 March) – Authorities have not received any security threat here related to the start of the campaign period for local candidates on March 28 and the upcoming May 12 local and national midterm elections.
General Santos City. Map courtesy of Google
Col. Nicomedes Olaivar Jr., city police director, said Monday the city remained under the green category or areas with no security concerns based on the assessment of joint security units and the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
“There is no intense political rivalry here and we have no history of election-related incidents or violence,” he said in a radio interview.
The police official said they are continually working with the various security and law enforcement units to maintain the city’s normal peace and order situation and ensure the smooth and peaceful conduct of the polls.
The city police office, in coordination with the Army-led Joint Task Force GenSan, has tightened intelligence and security monitoring, and regularly conducts checkpoint operations in major roads and highway boundaries.
On Friday night, elements from the explosive ordnance disposal team disrupted another suspicious unattended package left by the roadside of Roxas Avenue here.
Olaivar said the package contained a material usually found in junk shops but ruled out any semblance of bomb or improvised explosive device.
“No need to panic for the general public considering that it was negative, it was not an explosive,” he said.
He said the city police intelligence unit led by Maj. Carl Jayson Baynosa is currently reviewing available footage of security cameras within the area to determine the possible owner of the package.
“We’ve been actually getting this kind of information almost daily. Rest assured that we are properly investigating and attending to these to avert any untoward incident that may harm our residents,” Olaivar said.
He urged the public to continually cooperate with authorities and report any threat or suspicious movements.
Comelec listed a total of 368,454 eligible voters in the city’s 26 barangays for the May 12 elections. More than 700 police personnel will be deployed in 55 polling centers in the area to secure the polls.
Incumbent City Mayor Lorelie Pacquiao, sister-in-law of former Senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao, is seeking a second term under the People’s Champ Movement.
She is challenged by incumbent Vice Mayor Rosalita Nuñez of the RCRI-Achievement with Integrity Movement alliance and independent bet Fraidelyn Samal Dani. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)
