The Negros Oriental security forces will be augmented by 310 policemen from Bacolod City during the May 12 polls, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Regional Director Lionel Marco Castillano of the Negros Island Region said on Tuesday, April 29.
The Bacolod policemen will be deployed in Negros Oriental three days before the elections, he said.
Bacolod City residents have nothing to worry about because the pull out of the policemen will be temporary, he said.
The 200 policemen deployed in Negros Oriental from the Police Regional Office 7 have been returned to the Central Visayas now that the NIR is in place, Castillano said.
The campaign has been peaceful with no intense political rivalry in Negros Oriental, especially in the Third District, he said.
The fight is only on social media, he said.
No private armed groups have been monitored in the NIR, he added.
Guihulngan and La Libertad remain in the red category while the rest of the towns and cities in Negros Oriental are under the yellow category, Castillano said.
The COMELEC is expected to release a new list of areas of concern next week.
Meanwhile, as part of the European Union’s Election Observation Mission, which aims to independently observe the Philippine electoral process, EU Election Observers Robert Lismanis and Luisa Lupascu met with Negros Occidental Provincial Election Supervisor Ian Lee M. Ananoria at his office in Bacolod City on Tuesday.*