Minute Resolution No. 15-0311

"Your Honor, this pertains to COMELEC Resolution No. 9944, wherein the undersigned would like to respectfully address to your good self the stated procedure with regard to the issuance of the Temporary Authority (TA), Temporary Security Detail (TSD), Temporary Authority to Transport (TATT) and the receipt and processing of applications by the Regional Joint Security Control Center (RJSCC) for Region IV, as provided under Sections 5, 9, 10, 11 of the mentioned resolution, in connection with the conduct of the May 8, 2015 Recall Elections for Mayor in the City of Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.

Please be informed, your Honor, of the peculiar situation apparent with the member-composition of the present RJSCC to be established for the said activity, since the COMELEC Region IV Regional Office and our counterparts from the Philippine National Police Region 4-B (MIMAROPA) and Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Command (WESCOM), have offices/headquarters located in different areas of Region 4, to wit:

From our physical set-up alone, it may be difficult for our office to join together with our PNP and AFP regional counterparts as trip thereto entails distant travel which is done by air or by sea. The regional offices of both COMELEC Region IV and PNP IV-B are too far away from Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, where the expected applicants would be coming from.

Due to the distant proximity, another concern that may rise is that it may be improbable for the PJSCC-Palawan to immediately transmit to the RJSCC on the following day such applications that it may process, in order to duly comply with the procedure under Section 11, par. d of COMELEC Resolution No. 9944. Even if facilitated by forwarding and freight companies, courier handling/shipping may take two(2) to three (3) days maximum to deliver all the documents with attachments, from Puerto Princesa City, Palawan to Manila.

As a backgrounder, your Honor, during previous conduct of national and barangay elections, it has been a precedent that RJSCC concerns for Region IV-B Provinces (Marinduque, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Palawan and Romblon) were delegated to the Provincial Election Supervisor (PES) of Oriental Mindoro, considering that the workplace/repository of records of the RJSCC for Region IV-B is at the PNP PRO IV-B Regional Office located at Camp Efigenio Navarro, Calapan City, hence within the provincial jurisdiction of said PES. This authority was subject to, and with the approval of former Chairpersons of the Committee on the Ban on Firearms and Security Personnel (CBFSP), Honorable Commissioners Lucenito N. Tagle and Elias R. Yusoph (for the 2010 and 2013 May NLE and Barangay Elections, respectively).

However, the previous procedural set-up is also not feasible now as PNP Regional Office for Region 4-B, Calapan City Oriental Mindoro is also far-off from Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, the jurisdictional coverage of the present recall activity.

In light of the aforesaid considerations, the undersigned would like to respectfully recommend from your Honor, and before the Honorable Commission En Banc, for the amendment particularly of the procedure set under Section 11 (Procedure) of COMELEC Resolution No. 9944, on the issuance by the RJSCC-Region IV of the thirty (30)-day non-extendible Temporary Authority (TA), Temporary Security Detail (TSD), Temporary Authority to Transport (TATT) for a limited period, with said procedure to be devolved and the authority to issue TA, TSD and TATT be granted to the Provincial Joint Security Control Center (PJSCC)-Palawan, and to include the exclusive receipt and processing of the applications, for reason of expediency of processing the documents and for grounds of practicality, and for the RJSCC to monitor and oversee the compliance of the PJSCC-Palawan.

Respectfully submitted for your Honor's consideration and approval."