Army, police: Still no election watchlist areas in Negros Occidental

From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 4): Army, police: Still no election watchlist areas in Negros Occidental

Both the Philippine Army and the Philippine National Police in Negros Occidental said there are still no election watchlist areas (EWAs) declared in the province despite the reported atrocities of the New People’s Army (NPA) in recent weeks.

Colonel Francisco Delfin, commander of the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade based in Murcia town, said that along with the police, they have decided to step up their security measures instead of declaring EWAs.

Delfin attended the first meeting of the Commission on Elections (Comelec)-led Regional Joint Security Coordinating Center (RJSCC) of Western Visayas in Iloilo City Thursday.

Also present were Senior Supt. William Señoron, officer-in-charge of Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, and Senior Supt. Flynn Dongbo, acting director of Bacolod City Police Office.

Delfin added that the “reported rebel presence in southern Negros Occidental were considered during the meeting but the council deemed it prudent to not declare any area in the province under EWAs as it has not yet been proven if the recent armed attacks were election-related.”

He said, however, that the assessment to determine if the locality can be considered an election hotspot is a “continuing process.”

Negros Occidental remains peaceful as armed groups can still be contained, Delfin added.

Both Señoron and Dongbo also said the Comelec has not identified any EWA in the city and the province.

For his part, Dongbo said he did not recommend the inclusion of any barangay in Bacolod as an EWA.

“Briefers only presented the situation in their respective areas,” the BCPO chief added.

A certain locality can be considered an EWA when there is any election-related violence that will occur within the election period, intense political rivalry, history of election-related violence, presence of armed groups, and hotly-contested political positions.

An ambush perpetrated by the NPA in Candoni town last February 18 claimed the lives of two policemen and injured two others and a civilian.

Earlier last month, a group of NPA rebels ransacked the house of a village chief in Isabela town.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=863244