PNP identifies 3 potential armed groups in Negros Occidental

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 14, 2023): PNP identifies 3 potential armed groups in Negros Occidental (By Nanette Guadalquiver)

PEACE AND ORDER. Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson (center), sitting as the chairperson, presides the Regional Peace and Order Council-Western Visayas meeting at the Negros Residences in Bacolod City on Wednesday (June 14, 2023). He is joined by Brig. Gen. Sidney Villaflor (left), acting regional director of Police Regional Office-6 and Department of Interior and Local Government-6 Regional Director Juan Jovian Ingeniero. (PNA photo by Nanette L. Guadalquiver)

BACOLOD CITY – The Philippine National Police (PNP) in Western Visayas (Region 6) has identified three potential private armed groups (PAGs) in Negros Occidental as part of the security monitoring for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) this coming October.

Acting Police Regional Office - 6 regional director Brig. Gen. Sidney Villaflor presented the report during the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) meeting presided by Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson at the Negros Residences here on Wednesday.

“What’s important is they have identified and will monitor these groups. They are just extra careful especially with what happened to our neighbor in Negros Oriental. They are very careful now here in (Negros) Occidental,” Lacson told reporters.

Villaflor clarified that “technically” there are no PAGs in the province. He did not disclose the three potential armed groups, but they have been placed under the police's radar.

Last March, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. ordered the police and the military to identify, track down and dismantle all private armed groups in the country, following the series of high-profile attacks on local chief executives, one of which was the assassination of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo three months ago.

Villaflor said the PRO-6 is waiting for the updated policy of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in determining the election watchlist areas (EWAs).

“So that we can have a detailed plan and adopt the policy of the Comelec,” he added.

During the 2022 national and local elections, there were 17 EWAs identified in Negros Occidental.

Results of the threat evaluation presented during the RPOC-6 meeting also showed that 18 of the 12 high-risk elected government officials in Western Visayas are in Negros Occidental.

Villaflor, however, said the data are still based on the old records.

“We will still evaluate it and we will know if the 18 are still the same officials,” he added.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1203531