Iloilo City placed under election watchlist
The Regional Joint Security Control Center (RJSCC) decided to place Iloilo City under an election watchlist area of concern following the grenade-throwing incident at the ancestral house of Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas last Tuesday.
RJSCC members composed of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and the Philippine National Police during its meeting the day of the incident.
Iloilo City was put under Category 1 election watchlist due to the perceived intense political rivalry in the area.
“With the grenade-throwing incident, we’ll be placing Iloilo City under election watchlist but it doesn’t mean that it is considered a hotspot,” said PNP Regional Director Chief Supt. Isagani Cuevas.
He also revealed that they will form a task force to look into the events that have happened in Iloilo City.
“Once and for all, we want to get the real picture. There have been receiving allegations after allegations coming out but we won’t be inclined to believe all of these. We want an investigation, which is fair and impartial,” he added.
Despite the intense political rivalry, the region’s top cop said that they won’t deploy additional policemen in Iloilo.
Instead, he enthused city cops to heighten their police visibility.
Amid the accusations of different political camps, Cuevas also refused to confirm if politics was behind the latest grenade-throwing incident.
At around 3:15 a.m. of Tuesday, a grenade was lobbed at the Treñas ancestral house in Brgy. Taal, Molo, Iloilo City.
The house is occupied by the mayor’s younger brother, businessman Francis Treñas, and his family.
The incident happened barely two weeks after a grenade was also thrown at the mayor’s bakeshop in Barangay Dungon, Jaro.
No member of Francis’ family was hurt although it damaged portions of the ancestral house.
Both Mayor Jerry and Francis believe there could be no other reason of that attack than politics.
Francis claimed that their business could have nothing to do with the incident since he has been doing good for the past 21 years and nothing happened.
Francis, instead, deemed that the grenade throwing is politically motivated because his son, Jose Efrain “Jay”, put up a youth group called Justice, Empowerment, Responsive for Reform Youth or JERRY, which buoyed Treñas’ congressional bid.
Meanwhile, Comelec regional director Atty. Dennis Ausan clarified that the action should not be misconstrued that the two incidents are politically motivated because the PNP is still conducting its investigation on the two incidents.
However, he claimed that they have come up with the said decision as the incident already created apprehensions and speculations.
Presently, the Comelec has placed 46 local government units (LGUs), including this city, under its watchlist; 24 are under category 1 and 22 are in category 2.
An area is considered Category 1 if it has high possibility of election-related violent incidents (ERVI) while those at Category 2 are areas with history of ERVIs, intense political rivalries and active movement of armed rebels.
