Cebu PB Asks Comelec to Consider South Cebu Town as Election Watch List Area

The Cebu Provincial Board (PB) has passed a resolution asking the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to identify Dumanjug town in southern Cebu as an election watch list area (EWA).

The Cebu PB passed the resolution after a strafing incident in the town last December 4 involving local political candidates.

A group of men fired at and threw a grenade to the vehicle of Liberal Party vice mayoral candidate Rainero Asentista in Barangay Masa, Dumanjug.

No one was hurt but the car was peppered with bullets.

It happened after Dumanjug Vice Mayor Efren Guntrano Gica, who is running for mayor in the 2016 elections, left the area after a meeting in the barangay.

Hours after the shooting last December 4, police arrested Dexter Aniñon, 18, an alleged lookout.

Police also arrested Saturday dawn Samuel Villagonzalo and Joselito Quirante at the house of Nilo Quirante in Barangay Pawa, Dumanjug.

Nilo Quirante is one of the identified masterminds in the reported strafing, said Senior Inspector Arvi Arbuis, Dumanjug police chief.

Cebu Provincial Election Officer Ferdinand Gujilde said the incident is a “police or military matter.”

He said the Comelec has no jurisdiction yet on areas where violence happened, involving local officials, just like in Dumanjug, because the election period has not yet started.

He said the Regional Joint Security Control Center will determine if Dumanjug will be included in the election watch list. (PNA) LAP/EB/EDS