Contrary to what had been anticipated, the heated elections in Davao del Norte turned peaceful.
Col. Ferlu Silvio, Davao del Norte Provincial Police Office (DNPPO) director, and lawyer Aimee Ampoloquio, Commission on Elections (Comelec) supervisor for Davao del Norte, expressed gratitude to the candidates, the police, the military, the teachers and the Dabaonons for working together “to achieve orderly elections.”
Both admitted having tightened security to prepare well for the elections due to the election-related killing of the brother of a mayoralty candidate in New Corella a week before May 13.
“But it turned out that we over prepared and it is good because our elections are generally peaceful. There were hitches but those were just minor,” Ampoloquio said in an interview.
Silvio made his assessment in a separate interview: “Generally peaceful and orderly elections.”
“Nagiging maganda po ang takbo ng halalan dito sa Davao del Norte. Congratulations sa lahat ng mga partido: ang nanalo at ang mga di naanalo (The conduct of the elections here in Davao del Norte was good. Congratulations to all partiers to those who won and those who didn’t),” he added.
Silvio revealed that he had established open communications with leaders of two leading parties, the Partidong Democratikong Pilipino and Hugpong ng Pagbabago, and had asked their respective commitments to support “the unified thrust of ensuring peaceful and orderly elections.”
“We were able to define ano ang dapat gagawin para mapanatili ang (what to do to maintain) orderly and peaceful elections,” he said in an interview.
He congratulated leaders of all parties and the people of Davao del Norte for helping the police and the military in their bid to secure the province during the conduct of the May 13 elections.
Meanwhile, Silvio and Ampoloquio asked the Dabaonons to move on for the development of the province.
“Lahat po tayo ay panalo. Ang pagka panalo natin ay di po natatapos po doon. (We are all winners.),” he said, referring to the elections. “Ang pagiging panalo po natin ay nasa ating sarili; lahat po tayo ay nagseserbisyo para sa ating bayan. (Winning is in ourselves; we are all serving the nation.) Let’s move on,” he added.
Ampoloquio extended her call for supporters of the two political parties accept the win and the loss.
“Kung tanggap na ng mga kandidato ang resulta, I hope tanggap na rin nila (If the candidates have conceded to the elections results, I hope they would also do so, so we can move on,” she said. (By Jeanevive Duron-Abangan)
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