By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO) affirmed yesterday that there is a third local government unit (LGU) in the province that is currently being eyed as an “election hotspot” ahead of the May 2022 National and Local Elections.
NOCPPO spokesperson, Police Lt. Abegael Donasco, refused to identify the LGU, although she confirmed that it is located in the southern part of the province.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Negros Occidental, meanwhile, has not yet identified the third LGU in the province as an area of concern.
However, upon checking recent records of armed conflicts as well as suspected election-related violence, Watchmen Daily Journal was able to narrow down several southern Negros Occidental LGUs which could be placed as an area of concern by the Comelec. They are Himamaylan City, and the towns of Isabela, Ilog, Cauayan, and Hinoba-an.
Watchmen Daily Journal placed Himamaylan City on the possible areas that could be placed under a Comelec area of concern due to a number of clashes between government forces and the New People’s Army (NPA), especially in the upland barangays between late 2020 to 2021.
It is also the same case for the towns of Cauayan and Ilog, wherein the NPA had also engaged in a number of alleged extortion activities which led to armed encounters with the police and the Philippine Army.
The town of Isabela, meanwhile, also had a history of confrontation between government forces and communist insurgents, as well as heated rivalry between two political factions.
The town of Hinoba-an has also been put on the possible list by Watchmen Daily Journal due to the murder of political organizer Ulysses “Isik” Mahinay earlier on January 6 in the town’s Barangay Culipapa.
Earlier this month, prior to being transferred as Comelec head in Iloilo province, Atty. Ian Lee Ananoria identified the city of Escalante and the town of Moises Padilla as LGUs which are being eyed as “areas of concern” in the upcoming polls.
Both Escalante City and Moises Padilla have a history of election-related violence, as well as the presence of communist insurgents.
During the previous election period in 2019, reelectionist councilor and human rights advocate Bernardino Patigas was shot dead as he was going home in Barangay Alimango, Escalante City on April 22 of that year.
Three days later on April 25, 20 armed men attacked a campaign convoy carrying then-Moises Padilla Vice Mayor Ella Garcia-Yulo, who was running for the mayoralty post at that time.
The attack took place at Barangay Inolingan in the said town.
Garcia-Yulo survived the attack, however, his brother, Mark Garcia and their uncle, reelectionist town Councilor Michael Garcia, were killed.
In March of the same year, Moises Padilla town councilor Jolomar Hilario was also killed in the town’s Barangay Inolingan by the New People’s Army rebels.
In the aftermath of the attacks in 2019, the Comelec ultimately placed the town under the “Red Category” and tagged the town as an “area of grave concern.”/DGB, WDJ