3 armed groups watched in Negros Occidental

INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

BACOLOD CITY — The Western Visayas police have started monitoring the activities of three “potential private armed groups” in Negros Occidental province as authorities begin security preparations for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections in October.

Police Brig. Gen. Sidney Villaflor, acting Western Visayas police director, declined to identify these armed groups that might threaten peace and order in the province but said these had been placed under the police’s radar.

“[We need to] add more policemen on the ground, not only for administrative jobs, but also to conduct checkpoints, mobile patrols, barangay visitations and other activities that entail police visibility,” he said.

Villaflor presented the report during the Regional Peace and Order Council meeting led by Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson here on Wednesday.

In March, President Marcos ordered the police and military to identify, track down and dismantle all private armed groups in the country following the series of high-profile attacks on local officials, including former Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo.

Lacson said authorities had to be ready to prevent violence in Negros Occidental.

Public hearing

“What is important is that they (policemen) have identified and will monitor these (private armed) groups. They are just extra careful, especially with what happened to our neighbor in Negros Oriental,” the governor said.

According to Col. Orlando Edralin, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, the military in Western Visayas is waiting for the updated list of election watchlist areas in the region from the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

In Negros Oriental, the Comelec has set a three-day public hearing to determine if the barangay and SK elections in the province should be postponed following a series of killings, highlighted by the murder of Degamo and nine other people on March 4.

Lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, acting Comelec regional director in Central Visayas, said results of the public hearing, which will be held in the province from June 27 to June 29, would be sent to the Comelec en banc which will rule on the matter.

“It would be up to the Comelec en banc to postpone the elections in Negros Oriental or not. We’re just hoping that the en banc will rule on it before the start of the filing of the certificates of candidacy [on Aug. 28],” he told the Inquirer in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

“If the elections in Negros Oriental will be postponed, we shall count a minimum of 30 to a maximum of 90 days to determine when the polls in the province will be conducted,” he said.

“The postponement of the elections does not mean that there will be no elections in Negros Oriental this year. We just have to move the schedule,” he added.

—Carla Gomez and Kaye Brier

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