The Armed Forces of the Philippines through its 303rd Infantry Brigade based in Murcia, Negros Occidental readies election security plan in the Negros Island region (NIR).
79th Infantry Batallion 1Lt. Ronnie Sarmiento reported
that the brigade is tasked to perform election-related duties and security
operations in support to Commission on Election (COMELEC) in Negros Island
Region (NIR).
In a recent Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC)
meeting, Sarmiento said the 303rd Infantry Brigade is the only army
brigade that will oversee and operate in the whole island covering the 79th
Infantry Battalion in Palanas, Tanjay City and 11th battalion in Guihulngan formerly under
the 302nd brigade which was moved to Bohol on
November 15, 2015.
Relative to this, the organized tactical unit (TU) 303
conducts security operations in Negros Island Region to support and assist the
COMELEC in the implementation of election laws, rules and regulations to ensure
a free, orderly, honest, peaceful and credible conduct of the May 9, 2016
national and local elections.
Sarmiento added that the activated Joint Security
Coordinating Centers (JSCC) at different levels have contributed in maintaining
a peaceful environment so far.
However, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), New
People's Army (NPA) and National Democratic Front (NDF) are potent threat to
conduct possible election related violent incidents, said Sarmiento.
In a related development, the Conflict Manageable
Development Ready (CMDR) status of Negros Oriental and the Peaceful and Ready
for Further Development (PRFD) status of Negros Occidental have been sustained
through the concerted peace and development efforts of the different stakeholders.
In his report, Sarmiento revealed that the brigade has
gained significant progress not only in clearing affected barangays through
bayanihan activities but also in sustaining the gains in unaffected barangays
through re-visitation and immersion.
The brigade was able to neutralize 30 CPP, NPA, NDF (CNN)
personnel and recovered 14 firearms. However, Sarmiento reported that there is
still a need to increase the number of neutralized CNN personalities as well as
recovery of their firearms.
With the shared responsibility of achieving peace and
development, a normalized Negros Island Region can be attained through the
continuous support of local government units and cooperation among other
government agencies, non government organizations (NGOs), civil society
organizations (CSOs), and the different sectors of society, Sarmiento said.
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