Comelec’s Garcia: Private armies should be dismantled ahead of 2025 polls

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Garcia said Sunday that all private armed groups in the country should be neutralized before the 2025 national and local elections.

This, as newly-appointed Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla earlier ordered the police force in Central Luzon to dismantle the private armed groups that may compromise peace and stability in the region.

“Alam niyo ‘yung private armies talagang dapat mabuwag ‘yan. Hindi lamang sa iilang lugar kundi sa buong Pilipinas na,” Garcia said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview.

(Private armies really should be dismantled not only in certain areas but all over the Philippines.) 

“Kaya tama po ang ating bagong kalihim, Secretary [Jonvic] Remulla, na dapat mabuwag ang private armies sapagkat nagagamit po ‘yan ng mga pulitiko, ilang kandidato upang makapaghasik ng lagim o kaya naman ay takutin ang mga mamamayan,” he added.

(Secretary Remulla is right, that private armies should be dismantled because they are being used by some politicians and candidates to sow terror or scare the people.)

Remulla last Wednesday said the government aims to have casualty-free elections in 2025.

He added that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. instructed him to work on the safety and security of candidates and the public in the upcoming polls.

For Garcia, the voters’ free will remains a priority, stressing that people should not be coerced to vote for a particular candidate.

“Paano magre-reflect ng tunay na sentimyento kung ang mamamayan ay bumuboto dahil natatakot dahil sila ay pinuwersa? Hindi dapat ganon. Ang pagboto ay kusa sa kalooban at kaisipan ng ating mga kababayan,” the poll chairman said.

(How can the voters reflect their true sentiments if they are voting out of fear or because they were forced? That shouldn’t be the case. Voting should be voluntary in the will and thoughts of our countrymen.)

The campaign period for senatorial candidates and party-list groups is set from February 11 to March 10, 2025. Meanwhile, the campaign period for candidates for House of Representatives and parliamentary, provincial, city and municipal elections will be from March 28 to May 10.

Election day is scheduled on May 12, but overseas voters may cast their votes as early as April 13, while local absentee voters may cast their votes from April 28 to 30.

The BARMM parliamentary polls will also be conducted next year. —RF, GMA Integrated News