• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Philippine Army and National Police are now jointly validating whether a municipality in Negros Occidental will be categorized as an ‘area of concern’ during the May 12 elections.
Atty. Lionel Marco Castillano, Comelec regional director for Negros Island Region, and P/Col. Rainier de Chavez, provincial police director of Negros Occidental, have, however, refused to identify the local government unit concerned, pending validation by the Provincial Joint Security Coordinating Center.
Castillano said the Philippine Army raised its concern over the municipality, which will be discussed with the PNP and the Commission on Elections.
The PNP classified Negros Occidental under the green category for now, or no election related concerns, he added.
But if there are certain developments in a municipality, we might change the category of that particular area, as needed, he added
The Commission on Elections classification of areas of concern has four categories: green, yellow, orange and red.
Under yellow are the areas of concern that have a history of election-related incidents in the last two elections, orange category are areas with immediate concern on serious armed threats, while red refers to areas with grave concern, with combined factors from the yellow category and serious armed threats.
In Negros Oriental, Guihulngan City has been placed under the red category, and orange category for Basay City, because what happened in the past elections, Castillano said.
He also raised the possibility that the yellow category of La Libertad town could be changed after an arson incident that involved the New People’s Army, and is allegedly linked to a particular candidate.
That may upgrade the category of La Libertad to red, Castillano further said.
De Chavez, on the other hand, said they have 256 police officers who will compose the Reactionary Standby Force that will be deployed in case of emergency situations related to either the May 12 elections or Kanlaon related activities.
He also reported that as of this time, they have not received any reports of candidates receiving threats.*
