6 towns, 5 cities in Negros Occ. on poll watchlist

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  â€” At least five cities and six towns of Negros Occidental have been placed by the police under its election watchlist.

Senior Supt. Celestino Guara Jr., acting Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOPPO) director, said his men are closely monitoring 11 local government units (LGUs) here for being listed as under the election watchlist by their military intelligence report, the PIA reported the other day.

Guara identified Escalante City as the LGU under Category 1 of the watchlist, while those in Category 2 are the cities of Cadiz, Victorias, Himamaylan and Sipalay, and the towns of Binalbagan, Manapla, Toboso, Calatrava, Moises Padilla and Ilog.

Category 1 means there is an existing intense political rivalry and possible occurrence of armed group, and Category 2 means there is a possibility of occurrence of armed group such as the New People’s Army (NPA) or private armed group, Guara explained.

For his part, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander Col. Oscar Lactao clarified that only a barangay or a sitio was actually on the watchlist and not the entire city or town, but the LGU where the area was a part of or was used in the report.

Lactao said the report was based on previous election, and verification of the list is on-going if such conditions still presently exist.

Specifically, these “areas of concern” are located in the hinterlands of the LGUs so that, of the 662 barangays in the province of Negros Occidental, it could only be a fraction of the number that has been referred to in the watchlist, Lactao said..

There are changes of leadership and changes in political and economic landscape so that an LGU could either be upgraded or degraded or totally removed from the watch list, Lactao added.

Guara said they are still exchanging notes with the intelligence network to verify the actual status of these LGUs and accordingly update the list.

During the Provincial Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Center press conference at the PNP Provincial Headquarters, provincial election supervisor Jessie Suarez said they are appealing for calm and sobriety to make elections in the province peaceful.

Lactao and Guara also assured Negrenses they will continue to discharge their peacekeeping efforts to have a peaceful and credible election. 

Meanwhile, Negros Occidental including Bacolod City has the highest number of registered voters in Region 6 or Western Visayas.

Comelec-6 has officially listed 4,096,640 registered voters in Western Visayas for the May 2013 elections, with Negros Occidental and Bacolod City registering the highest number at 1,574,784 voters. Of this number, Negros Occidental has 1,315,482 and the rest are in Bacolod City.

This is followed by Iloilo province and Iloilo City with 1,270,100 voters, Capiz (457,379), Aklan (328,642), Antique (318,214) and Guimaras (100,521).

Comelec-6 further said there are 601 barangays and 1,732 precincts in Negros Occidental, excluding Bacolod City.  (FREEMAN)