• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Security measures are all set to ensure a peaceful and orderly synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) in Negros Occidental on Oct. 30, members of the Provincial Joint Security Coordinating Center (PJSCC) said yesterday.
With only 10 days to go before the elections, PCol. Leo Pamittan, provincial director of Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, said “we are very sure that NOCPPO is good to go” with the security preparations, including possible disruption of election by lawless elements.
Pamittan, who joined Brig. Gen Orlando Edralin, commander of Philippine Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade, during the PJSCC meeting at the Negros Residences in Bacolod City, said that aside from setting up checkpoints, they are dispatching “quick reaction forces” to conduct visibility operations to thwart movement of lawless and criminal elements.
In the 2022 national and local elections, more than 6,000 security forces were utilized to keep the election peaceful in Negros Occidental, Provincial Elections Supervisor Ian Lee Ananoria said.
However, the total number of security personnel to be utilized in Negros Occidental for election duties for the coming BSKE has not been disclosed yesterday.
Edralin said the conduct of focused military operations against remnants of the New People’s Army (NPA) continues to ensure that they cannot initiate possible terroristic activities during the election period.
He hoped that the BSKE candidates will not heed the call of the NPA to pay permit to campaign and permit to win fees.
Instead, they should report it to us, Edralin said.
The number of election areas of concern in Negros Occidental remains at 51, Commission on Elections data showed.
Ananoria said they have already served 149 show-cause orders to Negrense candidates for premature campaigning, a day before the official campaign period took effect yesterday.
He urged candidates to engage in high level of campaign, stick to their platform of governance in campaigning, and not to engage in personal issues. | GB
