Negros Oriental areas tagged as poll hotspots

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines —  All 25 cities and municipalities in Negros Oriental have been tagged as areas of concern for the May 12 elections by the provincial joint security control center, according to the Commission on Elections. Comelec-Negros Island Region (NIR) chief Lionel Marco Castillano yesterday said that of the areas, Guihulngan City and La Libertad were classified under the red category, Basay City under orange and the rest under the yellow category.

The Philippine National Police uses a color-coding system to classify areas with election concerns: yellow for those with a history of election-related incidents, orange for the existence of serious armed threats, red for serious armed threats and history of election-related incidents, and green for areas with no election-related security concern.

During the 2023 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, Negros Oriental was placed under the control of  the Comelec due to the assassination of then governor Roel Degamo at his home in Pamplona town.

The attack left nine other people dead and 17 others wounded.

Aside from areas in Negros Oriental, Castillano said the town of Candoni in Negros Occidental was placed under orange category due to existence of serious armed threats.

The rest of the municipalities  and cities in Negros Occidental as well as six towns in Siqujior are classified under the green category or absence of any election-related incident.

Castillano said the fact that Negros Oriental was under Comelec control during the previous elections was the reason why the province’s 22 towns and cities are now under the yellow category.

He said that as of the moment, the Comelec-NIR has not received any report about the possible plan of armed groups to disrupt the May elections.

He described the present peace and order situation in Negros Oriental as “so far, so good.”