'COC filing in Abra generally peaceful' - COMELEC Regional Director

Abra, Philippines – This year’s filing of certificate of candidacy in this province, a ‘category red’ in the country for being in the hot spot list during the 2019 elections, reports no record of any irregularities and untoward incidents, according to the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Regional Office.

Aside from the peaceful result of the filing of Certificate of Candidacy (COC), the agency also reported that the province of Abra had been strictly following the health and safety protocols in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and other guidelines in COC filing.

In a report of the Mountain Province Broadcasting Corporation, COMELEC-CAR Regional Director Atty. Ederlino Tabilas said that although the COC filing in the said province came out peaceful, continuous monitoring of peace and order in Abra and other provinces in the region will still continue.

For the COC forms submitted by the candidates, the regional director said they will be consolidated and will be sent to the COMELEC Law and En Banc Department for review.

The final list of candidates will then be forwarded after November 15 for its printing.

Meantime, the regional director is hopeful that the peace and order in Abra shall be maintained until the May 9, 2022 elections will be finished.

As recalled, Abra in 2019 was put on the highest stage of hot spot because of various political killings and violations of the Omnibus Election Code which transpired in the province. Abra province was also on the “hot spot” list of the police for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections in 2018.

Classification of election hotspots

According to COMELEC, the agency, along with PNP and the AFP, identifies and classifies election hotspots using the following system of classification:

Category Green: referring to areas of no security concern and are relatively peaceful and orderly

Category Yellow: referring to areas with a history of election-related violence or the existence of intense partisan political rivalry, but without the participation of domestic terror groups;

Category Orange: referring to areas where, in addition to conditions that would qualify an area as Category Yellow, there are likewise serious armed threats posed by domestic terror groups and other analogous armed groups; and

Category Red: referring to areas where, while being under Category Orange, the relevant government agencies declare the existence of conditions that may constitute grounds for the declaration of COMELEC Control.

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