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By LITO RULONA,
Correspondent

The regional office of the Commission on Election 10 is closely monitoring two areas and is considering it as hot spots in the province in Lanao del Norte during the conduct of the synchronized 2016 May election.

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Comelec 10 regional director Atty. Renato Mag-butay identified the municipality of Pantar and Kaus-wagan, both in Lanao del Norte under Comelec and police watch as the election period starts over the weekend.

“There are two areas in Lanao del Norte nga gitutukan karon sa PNP. One in Pantar and unya misulod pud ang Kauswagan tungod kay ang napildi nga kandidato nga mayor gusto na siya molingkod because of the decision of the Supreme Court,” he said.

Magbutay said during the last meeting with the PNP officials on Friday, the army mechanized commander said they will stay neutral on the issue because they were not furnished with the copy of the decision.

Dunay standoff. Magpa-tunga lang gyud kami ani tungod kay basin magka-initay unya dunay mahitabo,” he added.

Reports reaching to the Comelec 10, the supporters of Kauswagan, Lanao Del Norte Mayor Rommel Arnado continued to hold vigil outside municipal hall after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court for using his US passport despite renouncing his US citizenship.

Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, the high court dismissed the petition filed by Rommel C. Arnado and affirmed the Commission on Elections (Comelec) ruling disqualifying him to sit as mayor of Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte.

Arnado is a natural-born Filipino citizen who became an American citizen as a consequence of his naturalization.  He relinquished his American citizenship and on July 10, 2008 he took his oath of allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines. Then, on April 3, 2009 he executed an affidavit of renunciation of his foreign citizenship.

That same year, Arnado filed his Certificate of Candidacy (COC) to run for mayor of Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte for the 2010 polls. A petition was filed to disqualify him saying he is still a US citizen due to his continued use of his US passport.

Meanwhile, in the municipality of Pantar, presence of army soldiers continued to stay in the area preventing recurrence of armed clashes between rival political camp of United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) mayoral candidate Jabar Tago and Mayor Mohammed Exchan Gabriel Limbona.

Limbona, who was dismissed by the Ombudsman but later favored by the Supreme Court, brought his private army and occupied the old municipal town hall where the local Comelec holds office.

Tago is the nephew of Acting Mayor Mangondaya Tago, who was installed in May 2014 to replace Limbona after his dismissal. But Limbona did not step down, resulting in the months-long standoff between the two mayors.

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