• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Negros Oriental is being eyed by the Commission on Elections Negros Island Region for inclusion in its watchlist areas for the 2025 midterm elections.
Negros Island Region Comelec regional election director Lionel Marco Castillano disclosed on Monday, October 7, that the entire province of Negros Oriental may be included in the election watch list areas, based on Comelec guidelines, due to a history of being put under Comelec control.
The purpose of the classification, according to Castillano, is for them to make a security plan. “We will know where to focus, and augment our security forces,” he added.
Pryde Henry Teves filed his Certificate of Candidacy for governor of Negros Oriental, under the Liberal Party (LP), last week. His brother, expelled Representative Arnolfo Teves, is linked to the assassination of the late Gov. Roel Degamo, and nine others on March 4, 2023.
The Anti-Terrorism Council has also designated Arnolfo and Pryde Henry Teves, including 11 others, as terrorists in July last year.
Pryde Henry Teves served as Negros Oriental governor for three months before he was unseated in 2022 by a Commission on Elections en banc ruling in favor of then Gov. Roel Degamo.
Several months after, Degamo was assassinated inside his residential compound in Pamplona, Negros Oriental.
During the 2023 barangay elections, Negros Oriental was placed under Comelec control. But no election-related violent incidents were reported in the province during the election period.
Castillano also enlisted the help of three governors of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor, which comprises the NIR, to push for the creation of the NIR Police Regional Office, to ensure smooth coordination among law enforcement bodies and the Comelec for the 2025 elections.
While NIR has already been established, the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office and Bacolod City Police Office are still under the operational control of Police Regional Office 6, while the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office and Siquijor Police Provincial Office are reporting to Police Regional Office 7.
Castillano said he also asked the help of Comelec chairman George Garcia, stressing that it is difficult for them to manage the 2025 elections without a Regional Joint Security Control Center, which would be composed of the Comelec, PNP, Armed Forces of the Philippines, and Philippine Coast Guard.
Regarding Negros Occidental and Siqujior, Castillano there are no area of concerns, as of this time.
Asked of his assessments on the first six days of filing of COCs in NIR, Castilllano said “security wise, we are okay,” although he admitted a few kinks with regards to power interruptions in Siquijor and Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental.
Castillano said he already coordinated and asked the Department of Energy to postpone their preventive maintenance works during non-office hours, as they have been confronted with problems in encoding candidate profiles during the filing of COCs.*
