ROXAS City â The Capiz Police Provincial Office (CPPO) closely monitored 50 out of 476 barangays in the province identified as election watch list areas (EWAs) during yesterdayâs casting of votes in relation to the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
CPPO director Senior Superintendent Samuel Nacion said of the 50 villages identified as EWAs at the provincial level, two were under Category 3 and 28 were under Category 2. The remaining 20 were under Category 3.
EWAs placed under Category 1 are villages with intense political rivalries while those under Category 2, with problems on internal security (due to the presence of rebels and other armed groups).
EWAs under Category 3, meanwhile, are a combination of categories 1 and 2.
At the regional level, only 17 villages in Capiz were identified as EWAs. These were validated by the regional police and the Philippine Army.
The number was previously 15 but the Regional Joint Security Control Center raised it to 17 over the weekend.
The two villages added as EWAs were Barangay Bato-Bato in Mambusao town where a strafing incident happened at the house of one of the election candidates and Barangay Lawaan in Roxas City where a village chief reelectionist was gunned down.
Nacion said the death of Barangay Lawaan village chief Elvis Asis, 51, was not election-related. Personal grudge was the motive in the shooting, he added.
Nacion stressed that CPPOâs working number was based on the provincial data on EWAs.
He said it is better to secure a âbigger numberâ that to limit their operations in 17 EWAs identified at the regional level.
The CPPO head also stressed that his personnel were fully deployed throughout the province together with 307 augmentation forces from the Police Regional Office 6.
One company from the Regional Mobile Force Battalion also served as a quick reaction team in Capiz.
As of this writing, the CPPO has monitored zero cases of âactive violence.â
No reports of vote buying were recorded, Nacion added. (With a report from PNA/PN)
