‘No need for Comelec control of Cotabato City’

COTABATO CITY — The city police has brushed aside as "virtually premature" the clamor of the local opposition camp for the Commission on Elections (Co—melec) to put all of the city’s 37 barangays under its direct control during the May 10 polls.

"There is no reason for the city to be listed either in the Come—lec’s areas of immediate concern," Senior Superintendent Adjijul Taradji, city police chief, told Catholic radio station dxMS yesterday.

Taradji said he had a dialogue with all of the city’s barangay leaders and learned from them that there are no security threats to their communities during the May 10 elections.

"Nobody agreed with the request of certain candidates for the city to be placed under Comelec control during the May 10 elections. They are the first to know about the real situation in their respective communities. So far, no one has asked for it," he said.

The local camp of the Koa—lisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) has recommended to Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos that the city be placed under the poll body’s control, claiming security threats and possible poll irregularities in the bailiwicks of re-electionist City Mayor Muslimin Sema.

Sema, who belongs to the Lakas-CMD (Christian-Muslim Democrats), said the move of her rival, KNP mayoral candidate Estrellita Juliano, runs counter to the efforts of the local business community to project a stable investment climate to gain the confidence of capitalists.

Prominent local businessmen earlier criticized Juliano for making the recommendation without consulting the leaders of different sectors here. — John Unson