Pampanga top cop questions poll hotspot tag

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines – This province’s police director clarified yesterday that he has never recommended the inclusion of Pampanga as a “hotspot” in the 2013 elections.

Superintendent R’win Pagkalinawan was reacting to reports that Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas had cited the province as one of 15 poll hotspots in the country.

“I did not submit any recommendation to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for the declaration of Pampanga as high-risk area or be included (among) the election hotspots in the 2013 elections,” Pagkalinawan said in a radio interview.

He said there was no reason for such a move, adding that the crime rate in the province under the administration of Gov. Lilia Pineda has decreased.    

Pagkalinawan noted that from an average of 500 crime incidents monthly, the number has gone down to 200.

He said only Arayat town could be considered an election hotspot, as recent killings there appeared to be politically motivated. 

Other areas cited as poll hotspots were Nueva Ecija, Abra, Pangasinan, Cagayan, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Batangas, Cavite, Masbate, Samar, Misamis Occidental, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, and Basilan.

In a recent meeting of the Central Luzon Peace and Order Council, Roxas, accompanied by Liberal Party gubernatorial candidate Eddie Panlilio and in the presence of Pineda and other governors in the region, ordered Pagkalinawan to stop jueteng operations in Pampanga.    

Pagkalinawan denied that the illegal numbers game existed in Pampanga, saying the legal small town lottery could have been mistaken for jueteng. – With Ric Sapnu