ANTIQUE – This province’s Liga ng mga Barangay president Julius Cezar Tajanlangit has favored the classification of the municipality of Tobias Fornier as an area of concern (AOC) for the May 12 midterm polls.
The Provincial Board ex-officio member is the younger brother of Tobias Fornier’s Mayor Ernesto Tajanlangit III, who had an altercation with Vice Mayor Jose Marie Fornier over the distribution of family food packs for El Niño-affected families in their municipality in 2024.
“Although I don’t really foresee an intense political rivalry to happen in our hometown this NLE 2025. But, then, it is also better to ensure the safety of our townmates,” Tajanlangit said.
He added that aside from the incident that happened between his brother and their vice mayor, he also believes that their vehicles were intentionally burned by unidentified culprits in their home carpark.
He said police augmentation is necessary to ensure a peaceful election in their town.
He also appealed to their townmates to abide by the gun ban, as he assured their family would follow election laws.
Lieutenant Colonel Willy Diel, Antique Provincial Police Office (APPO) Information Officer, said it was the National Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Center that identified Tobias Fornier as an AOC.
Diel said that the Provincial Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Center chaired by Commission on Elections (Comelec) Acting Assistant Regional Director and concurrent Antique Provincial Election Supervisor Wil Arceño will continue to monitor the situation in Antique until after the election period on June 11, 2025.
He also said that since the start of the election period on Jan. 12, they have not recorded a violation of the gun ban in the province.
Comelec checkpoints have been intensified in 18 municipalities of Antique since the start of the election period. (PNA)
