THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) starts enforcing the nationwide gun ban at midnight Friday as the 45-day election period for the barangay elections begins, Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said yesterday.<\/p>\n
Brillantes said Comelec checkpoints would again be put up along major thoroughfares to help ensure that the elections on Oct. 28 would be peaceful.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe election period is starting so there are going to be many prohibitions. Starting (Friday) at midnight, we will put up our checkpoints,\u201d Brillantes said in an interview.<\/p>\n
In Cebu, Provincial Election Officer Ferdinand Gujilde said only police and military personnel are allowed to bear firearms under the gun ban which lasts until Nov. 28.<\/p>\n
Gujilde said deputized law enforcement officers who bring firearms should be in full uniform and are performing official functions.<\/p>\n
Also exempted in the gun ban are the president, vice president, senators, commissioners, the Ombudsman, investigators and prosecutors.<\/p>\n
Gujilde said candidates who face life and security threats may be assigned police or military escorts by the Comelec.<\/p>\n
Under the Omnibus Election Code, violators of the gun ban face imprisonment of up to six years, disqualification from public office, and deprivation of the right to vote.<\/p>\n
Under Comelec rules, prohibitions on new government appointments, promotions and the creation of new positions or implementing salary increases in government offices will be in effect in that period.<\/p>\n
The transfer of officers and employees in the civil service and the suspension of any elective provincial, city, municipal or barangay official are also banned.<\/p>\n
Brillantes said candidates who want to run in the barangay elections could file their certificate of candidacy on Oct. 11.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo those who are already putting up posters, those are the ones we call epal (credit-grabbers) … the thick-faced ones. Those are the ones you shouldn’t vote for,” he said. Brillantes urged the public to keep an eye on would-be candidates who are already campaigning and to dump them come Election Day.<\/p>\n
In Cebu, the Police Regional Office initially identified 28 barangays in Central Visayas as election watchlist areas (EWAS) in next month’s barangay election.<\/p>\n
These barangays are located in Siquijor and Negros Oreintal provinces.<\/p>\n
In Cebu City, barangay Guba may be included on EWAS depending on the result of police verification said Senior Supt. Noli Romana, Cebu City police chief.<\/p>\n
Chief Supt. Danilo Constantino, PRO-7 chief, said he ordered all municipal, provincial and city police chiefs to monitor the situation in their respective jurisdictions. Inquirer with a report from Correspondent Chito Aragon and Peter L. Romanillos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) starts enforcing the nationwide gun ban at midnight Friday as the 45-day election period for the barangay elections begins, Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said yesterday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1242,1227],"tags":[],"byline":[],"source":[206068],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"class_list":["post-496287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cdn-news","category-cdn","source-cebu-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n