EXCERPT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE REGULAR EN BANG MEETING HELD ON THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS HELD ON 03 MAY 2016 F re seo Present: nee rent: and. ANDRES D, BAUTISTA _epucait stk) mera! EEPARTHERE Commissioner CHRISTIAN ROBERT S. LIM cee = Commissioner AL A. PARRENO RECEIVED Commissioner LUIE TITO F. GUIA RY: Commissioner ARTHUR D. LIM Commissioner MA. ROWENA AMELIA S€%E\ Commissioner SHERIFF M. ABAS ESSiOH| xxx xxx xxx Iden IN THE MATTER OF THE VARIOUS REQUESTS TO PLACE THE OLLOWING AREAS UNDER COMELEC CONTROL: 1) MARAWI CITY; 2) PROVINCE OF ABRA; AND 3) JONES, ISABELA This pertains to the Memorandum dated 28 April 2016 of CBFSP Director — Secretariat, Atty. Maria Norina Tangaro-Casingal, relative to several letters requesting that certain areas be put under COMELEC Control. The Memorandum of Director Tangaro-Casingal reads: “Respectfully forwarding the attached letter requests for COMELEC Control, received by the Committee on the Ban on Firearms and Security Personnel (CBFSP) to be included in the May 3, 2016 En Banc Meeting, viz: 1. Request for Marawi City to be placed uncer COMELEC Control; 2. Request for Abra Province to be placed under COMELEC Control; 3. Request for Jones, Isabela to be placed under COMELEC Control; XxX" Attached to the said Memorandum are the following Letter requests for approval and action: 4. A) The Letter dated 19 April 2016 from Abdul Hafel M. Pundato states: “May | convey to you the sentiment and clamor of the people of Marawi City for the placing immediately of the city under the Commission ‘on Elections (COMELEC) Control and the clustering of precincts which are located in areas far from the city, susceptible to election manipulation and fraud and to protect the integrity and safety of the PCOS machines. The history of violence in the city especially during election season reveals that almost always there are election-related violent incidents resulting to death and maim of candidates and supporters. Recently the PNP Chief of Marawi City was ambushed and killed, the City Mayor was also ambushed and only yesterday afternoon (18 April 2016) a supporter of a candidate was killed. These and many more reported and unreported incidents of violence have caused the residents of this city to petition the Commission. This command fully supports the clamor for placing the city under COMELEC Control and the clustering of selected precincts in voting centers more accessible to voters. wtPage 2 of § M.R. No. 16- “276 4. B) The Letter dated 20 April 2016 from ULAMA-IMAMS Alliance for Marawi City states: “Please be informed that the other day, April 18, 2016, the residents of Marawi City were alarmed with the shooting incident that caused further intensity to the volatile security situation in the city. The city has been ‘experiencing similar incidents of violence several times already. The stronger rivalry between the political parties could further heighten this security risk on the Election Day thus discouraging voters to participate and exercise their right of suffrage. In view hereof, we would like to respectfully request that Marawi City be placed under COMELEC contro! in the coming elections. This will pave the way to ensure the conduct of honest, fair and safe elections for 2016. The people of Marawi will be forever grateful to you and the whole members of the COMELEC for addressing a paramount concern of protecting not just our lives, but also our rights. XXX. 4. C) The Letter dated 20 April 2016 from Abdul Hafez Pundato and Amerol U. Salic states: “The recent ambush and death of the Marawi Chief of Police (PNP) followed by the ambush of Mayor Fahad ‘Pre’ Salic and the shooting the other day, 18 April 2016 at the city center which resulted fo the death of a supporter of a candidate are all premonitions of more violent confrontation of political protagonists as the May 9 election approaches. And the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) in the exercise of its plenary powers has to adopt immediate and drastic measure to address the impending violence in the city. It is for this reason that this command recommends the placing of the city under COMELEC Control with all its effects and ramifications and the eventual clustering of precincts which are isolated in the outskirt of the city, Which is the subject of an earlier petition by concemed leaders representing the cross-section of the society. XXX. 2. Further, the Letter dated 26 April 2016 of Hon. Eustagiuo P. Bersamit “Our faithful adherence to our democratic system of government rooted in peaceful, clean and credible elections impels us to write this request. , Governor of the Province of Abra, states: The present leadership of Abra takes pride in its humble strides in bringing back a regime of peace and order in our province, to free it from its undeserved reputation of being a hotbed of strife and violence. The election season, however, has an uncanny way of resurrecting phantoms of the violent past. In the reports submitted to this office by our provincial security cluster various indicators show a resurgence of election- related incidents. Under ordinary circumstances, this would not have raised an alarm among the local populace, but this is the election season. While we certainly cannot take pride in a declaration identifying Abra as an election hotspot, we believe that placing the province under the control of the Honorable Commission to stem the escalation of election-relatedPage 3 of 5M.R.No. 16- 0316 Violence - clearly within the purview of Section 1 of COMELEC Resolution No. 10074 of 10 March 2016 - would significantly help ensure the credibility and integrity of the 9 May 2016 polls. It is nigh time for the Honorable Commission to wield its constitutional power to guard the sanctity of the ballot and help ensure that the regime of terror will no longer cast its gloom over peace-loving people of Abra. We cannot sit idly by wringing our hands and watch a return of the times when authority emanated from the barrel of the gun, when vote-buying trumped the freedom to choose, when bullets grimly substituted for ballots, and when the election period became the uncertain season of trepidation because violence ruled the land. We cannot allow a return of that sordid past in Abra. We want Abrefios and our succeeding generations to be able to chart the future they seek through a resolute, secure and honest exercise of their solemn right of suffrage. To this end, we respectfully entreat the Honorable Commission to act with reasonable dispatch and place the province of Abra under its full control.” 3. Finally, the Letter dated 18 April 2016 of Hon. Leticia T. Sebastian, Municipal Mayor of Jones, Isabela, states: “This is to respectfully request to place the Municipality of Jones, Province of Isabela under Comelec Control and to relieve Police Chief Inspector Noo! B. Pattalitan, Chief of Police, Jones Police Station, pursuant to Comelec Resolution No. 3618 by virtue of the powers conferred in the Constitution and Omnibus Election Code (Republic Act No. 7166). Section 1 of Comelec Resolution No. 3618 provides the grounds for Comelec Control, which states that: ‘When in any political division, subdivision, unit or area, circumstances such as intense political rivalry between or among candidates, political factions, or parties, or the presence of paramilitary forces, private armies or identifiable armed bands widely perceived to have committed terrorism, fraud or other election irregularities in past electoral exercises or other analogous circumstances, threaten or tend to disrupt the holding of free, peaceful, honest, orderly, and credible elections, the Commission may place such political division, subdivision, unit or area under its immediate and direct control.’ There is a compelling reason to place the municipality under Comelec control because of the violence perpetuated by unidentified armed group based on the ‘sequence of the following events: 1. On 13 April 2016, Incumbent Vice Mayor Ronaldo Malana Lucas, who is running for re-election, was killed by unidentified armed group at Sitio Dinagnag, Barangay Dicamay 2, Jones, Isabela. A copy of the Special Report dated 15 April 2016 prepared and signed by Police Chief Inspector Noe! B. Pattalitan, Jones Police Station, Isabela Police Provincial Office, Philippine National Police ‘and Identification (ID) of Vice Mayor Ronaldo Malana Lucas are hereto attached as Annexes ‘A’ and ‘B' and made integral part hereof. 2 On April 14, 2016, Incumbent Punong Barangay Heinrich Lucas Apostol, who is running for Sanguniang Bayan, was killed by unidentified armed men at his residence located at Brgy. San Isidro, Jones, Isabela, and his companion sustained gunshot wound at the right foot and is presently confined for medical treatment at Prospero G. Bello Integrated Community Hospital. A Copy of the Spot Report for Murder and Frustrated Murder and.Page 4 of SMR. No, 16-0376 Theft Dated April 14, 2016 duly prepared and signed by Police Chief Inspector Noel B. Pattalitan and the PB Heinrich Lucas Apostol Identification (ID) are hereto altached as Annexes ‘C’ and ‘D' and made integral part hereof. The above-mentioned circumstances warrant placing the Municipality of Jones under Comelec Control. it shows blatant disregard by the unidentified armed group of the law and order. It is for this reason that an immediate and direct action to augment the police force and assign additional military troops be deployed in the Municipality in order to quell further violence and ensure the holding of free, peaceful, honest, orderly and credible election. The undersigned respecttully reiterates to immediate place the Municipality of Jones under Comelec Control and pending issuance of the said resolution, Police Chief Inspector Noe! B. Pattalitan be relived from his position and assignment as Chief of Police of Jones Police Station. xxx." The Commission RESOLVED, as it hereby RESOLVES, to declare the following areas under COMELEC CONTROL: 4. Marawi City; 2. Province of Abra; and 3. Jones, Isabela The areas declared under COMELEC Control shall be overseen by the Field Operations Group (FOG), exercising the powers and duties laid down in paragraphs (b), (c), (d), (e), and, if necessary, paragraph (f) of Sec. 3 of COMELEC Resolution No. 10074, to wit: “b. To oversee effective and necessary distribution, assignment and deployment of officers and personnel of the PNP as well as officers and men of the AFP in the locality concerned, and place under its control their activities relative to the strict enforcement of the law on the firearms ban, security personnel of candidates and private citizens, the appointment or use of special policemen for election purposes and_ similar prohibitions under the pertinent provisions of Sec. 261 of the Omnibus Election Code and Sec. 32, 33 and Sec. 34 of Republic Act No. 7166; To augment the police force and assign additional military troops whenever necessary to quell any possible outbreak of violence and maintain peace and order in the locality concerned; When necessary, to substitute a whole unit of the police force assigned in the locality concerned with another police unit or with an adequate unit of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; To relieve any police or military officer or personnel who may be found unsuitable for continuance in his present assignment,Page 5 of 5 M.R. No, 16- “276 in the locality concerned, reassign or confine to quarters any such member of the police or military unit; f To revoke all exemptions heretofore issued under the firearms ban to candidates and their bodyguards, and cancel all permits to carry firearms outside residence granted to residents of the political division, subdivision, unit or area concerned, as peace and order conditions in the locality demand;” Let the Field Operations Group of the Project Management Office implement this Resolution. SO ORDERED. J. ANDRWS D. BAUTISTA a airman one CHRISTIAN ROBERT S. LIM “ACA. PARRENO Commissigner Commissioner Lui F. GUIA “ARTHUR D. LIM ‘ontmissioner Commissioner MA. ROWENA Al : pS gee Commissioner ~ Commissioner cc: Chairman All Commissioners Executive Director Deputy Executive Director for Operations Deputy Executive Director for Administration Field Operations Group of the PMO cBFSP as