80 Negros Occ. villages with NPAs under Army watch

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – At least 80 hinterland barangays in Negros Occidental where New People’s Army (NPA) rebels are engaged in election-related activities, are closely being monitored by the Philippine Army.

Col. Jon Aying, deputy commander of the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade, told a meeting of the Joint Peace Security Coordinating Center in Pulupandan, Negros Occidental last Wednesday that the NPA is expected to be active in their extortion activities, requiring candidates to pay “permit to campaign” fees once they enter areas the guerrillas supposedly control.

Aying said the insurgents are now desperate in extorting money from candidates.

Of the 31 towns and cities in Negros Occidental, 13 are on the election watch list of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said Senior Superintendent Celestino Guara Jr., acting provincial police director.

Escalante City falls under Category 1, where candidates could employ private armies and intense political rivalries could occur.

The cities of Cadiz, Victorias, Himamaylan and Sipalay and the towns of Manapla, Toboso, Calatrava, Moises Padilla, Binalbagan and Ilog fall under Category 2, where election-related violence may take place due to the presence of armed rebels.

Pulupandan and La Castellana were recently added to the watch list. Eight civilians and a policeman were killed while 12 others were wounded in an ambush in La Castellana last Jan. 27, which the NPA owned up to.

In a statement, the Communist Party of the Philippines said candidates who enter so-called NPA “territories” to campaign for the May 13 elections must secure permission from its duly authorized revolutionary committees.