Reuters AlertNet Lite - Manila orders private armies disarmed before polls

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Manila orders private armies disarmed before polls

24 Jan 2007 06:54:58 GMT
Source: Reuters

MANILA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered the police on Wednesday to disarm private armies kept by local politicians ahead of mid-term elections in May.

Nearly 40 million Filipinos will elect half of the 24-member upper house of Congress, all 230 members of the House of Representatives and more than 17,000 local officials in polls seen as a referendum on Arroyo's leadership.

"I am instructing the Philippine National Police to map out in detail all potential election hot spots, disarm any private armies and help the Commission on Elections enforce clean, honest and peaceful polls," Arroyo said in a statement on Wednesday.

After Arroyo issued the instruction, senior national police generals met the elections commission to review the situation in the country's 80 provinces, identifying areas where violence could erupt during elections.

Oscar Calderon, the national police chief, said they were also reviewing the list of local political warlords believed to keep private armies.

Three years ago, the national police said there were about 100 armed groups across the archipelago with a few thousand weapons.

"We believed that more than half of these groups have been dismantled," Calderon told reporters, adding soldiers and police officers who were serving as bodyguards of politicians had been recalled to reduce potential violence during the election period.

Police said there were still no figures on recent election-related violence, but dozens of politicians and potential candidates had been gunned down in many parts of the country.

Elections will be held on May 14.

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