• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has ordered the Provincial Joint Security Coordinating Centers (PJSCCs) of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental to come up with contingency plans to ensure that the elections will push through on May 12 despite the threat of another eruption of Mt. Kanlaon.
Lionel Marco Castillano, Comelec regional director for Negros Island Region (NIR), said on Monday (Jan. 13) that the PJSCCs were given one month to formulate their contingency plans for approval by the Regional Joint Security Coordinating Center of the NIR.
“Our strategy is to conduct the elections where the evacuees are,” Castillano said, noting that the transfer of voting precincts will need a Comelec en banc resolution.
As of Jan.13, the Department of Social Welfare Development reported that 3,621 families, composed of 11,371 persons, are either staying in evacuation centers or in other shelters in Negros Island since the volcanic eruption on Dec. 9.
The election contingency plans will include the determination of the number of troops for deployment, Castillano further said.
In another development, Maj. Gen. Marion Sison, commander of Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (ID), declared that Western and Central Visayas are now free from influence of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army -National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
“We dismantled the remaining two guerilla fronts and now the 3ID is gearing towards the declaration of Panay Island in stable internal peace security status,” Sison said.
The Negros Island was earlier declared by the 3ID in a status of stable internal peace Security, following the dismantling of the five NPA guerilla fronts and their organized mass-based organizations.
Sison also warned politicians against collaborating with the NPA remnants, stressing that such alliances would ultimately lead to their downfall. | GB