Quezon City Acting Mayor Joy Belmonte on Friday opposed a plan to list the city as an election hot spot, following the killing of Barangay Bagong Silangan chairperson Crisell “Beng” Beltran.
To put the city on the list of election hot spots is “premature” since the police are still investigating all the possible motives behind the murder of Beltran, she said.
“I don’t think our city should be declared an election hot spot. I think that is premature and it will only cause panic. It will only cause our people to doubt the integrity of our local government and our police force,” she added.
The incident should not be considered yet as politically motivated as other possible angles had been identified as the investigation progresses, she said.
“Just like what National Capital Region Police Office chief Guillermo Eleazar said, it is election-related only because it occurred in the election period. Many people think that when we say it is an election-related incident, it is politically motivated already. No, they are two different things,” she said.
“When we say election-related, the incident occurred during the election period. That’s different to politically motivate and General Eleazar himself said that that’s just one of the angles they have been exploring,” she said.
She called on the public to stay vigilant, in her belief that perpetrators could exploit the election period to commit crimes and then connect the incident to politics.