ILOILO CITY (PNA) – Soon to be proclaimed new congressman of this city’s lone district, City Mayor Jerry P. Trenas said he will pursue or file an entirely new bill calling for the redistricting of this city into two congressional districts. The redistricting bill was initially filed by Rep. Raul Gonzalez Jr. but met stiff opposition at the Senate particularly by winning presidential candidate Benigno Simeon Aquino III on question of population requirement. The National Census and Statistics Office had placed the city population at more than 412,000 in 2007 census. But with an increasing population count every year, Trenas is positive the city could breach the population count requirement of 250,000 for every congressional district. Trenas said he will push for the city redistricting and he has the right connections now both in the House of Representatives and the Senate. As former president and now chairman of the League of Cities of the Philippines, Trenas said he had made the right connections with the city mayors as several of them are also elected congressmen in the 2010 elections.

‘Oplan Baklas’ in Dumaguete

DUMAGUETE CITY (PNA) – Personnel of the Army’s 302nd Infantry Brigade (IB) and the city government here, through the General Services Office (GSO), began its clean-up drive to rid the city of election campaign materials. Dubbed “Oplan Baklas,” the activity comes as provincial election supervisor Eddie Aba called on all political candidates and parties to also do their part in taking down posters and other propaganda materials following Monday’s automated polls. Aba issued his appeal as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) wrapped up its provincial canvass of Monday’s polls on Thursday and led the proclamation of the winners in various top level provincial elective positions here. A team of soldiers led by Lt. Winlove Bag-ao and seven personnel from the GSO covered the city’s main thoroughfares and removed posters from electric posts, fences, trees, and government facilities, and brought these to the city dumpsite in Barangay Candauay. However, they did not touch any of the propaganda materials on private property, hoping that the owners would take these down themselves. Bag-ao said the activity will continue until Friday although he is uncertain if they have enough personnel to penetrate the interior villages as similar clean-up operations will also be done in the cities of Tanjay and Bais and the other towns in the second district.

Comelec lauds firearms ban

ILOILO CITY (PNA) – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) cited the successful implementation of the gun ban as one of the factors that contributed to the success of the May 2010 synchronized automated national and local elections. Lawyer Ray Rene Buac, regional director of Comelec in Western Visayas, rated the conduct of elections in the region as nine from a rate of one to 10 putting into considerations all factors, including security which is being handled by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). The firearms ban took effect since the start of the election period on January 10. Data provided by the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO 6) stated that from January 10 up to May 12, apprehensions due to violation of the gun ban has reached 282. Most of the apprehensions happened in Negros Occidental with 83, and Iloilo City and province with 47 each. Of the arrested, 11 are government workers composed of seven PNP members, one village chieftain, one provincial government employee, and one village councilman. Others are members of the Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU), security guards, member of the Revolutionary Proletariat Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB), village watchman, and security officer. To date, 188 cases have been filed in court, while 47 are still under investigation.