• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
None of the 51 election areas of concern Negros Occidental warrant the need to be placed under the control and supervision of the Commission on Elections, Provincial Election Supervisor Atty. Ian Lee Ananoria disclosed yesterday.
Among the 51 barangays in Negros Occidental identified by the Regional Joint Security Coordinating Center of Western Visayas as “areas of concern”, three are areas of grave concern, 45 areas of immediate concern, and three areas of concern.
During the 2019 elections, the town of Moises Padilla in Negros Occidental was placed under Comelec control due to presence of private armed groups, occurrence of election related incidents and sightings of New People’s Army rebels.
Ananoria said that placing an area under the control of the poll body needs the approval of the Comelec en banc.
He explained that the classification of 51 barangays as areas of concern is not about all politics, while Brig. Gen. Orlando Edralin, Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, disclosed that sightings of armed rebels in hinterland barangays prompted them to recommend those places as areas of concerns.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson earlier said that Negrenses should not be alarmed with the declaration of RJSCC tagging 51 of the 662 barangays in Negros Occidental as areas of concerns, in line with the synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections on October 30.
The campaign period for the 2023 BSKE polls will start Oct. 19 to 28.*
