By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Police Regional Office-18 (PRO-18) Director, Police Chief Superintendent Renato Gumban, yesterday assured the public the entire Negros Island Region (NIR) is safe from any possible activity by the Abu Sayyaf terror group.
However, a portion stretching from San Carlos City in Negros Occidental to Basay in Negros Oriental is still under “high alert,” a status it has held from before the recent foiled attack by the terror group in Bohol.
“We are especially concerned with the town of Zamboanguita in Negros Oriental as it is directly facing the island of Mindanao,” Gumban explained. “One helicopter has been assigned to focus their reconnaissance in that particular area.”
Currently, Philippine Air Force (PAF) helicopters have also stepped up reconnaissance flights along the shorelines of the region, with the Philippine Army (PA) also assigning a platoon to routinely patrol the beaches of Negros Oriental.
Two weeks ago, Abu Sayyaf bandits landed in Inabanga, Bohol in three motorized boats.
However, once the group made landfall, government forces engaged them and thwarted their plans to conduct kidnappings of tourists on the island or in neighboring Cebu province.
Presently, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) believe there are two remaining bandits trapped on the island and are reportedly fighting to survive./WDJ