By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

No hired private armed groups or “political goons” have been monitored so far in Negros Occidental, the provincial police office said.

Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO) spokesperson, Captain Judesses Catalogo said they have already dismantled all previously documented hired private armed groups in the province.

Catalogo noted that most of the groups they have dismantled are also acting as criminal gangs.

“May mga existing kita, pero they are not operating as a group. May mga individual function sila that attributed sa ila ngalan, but ang aton monitoring dira sa intel naton, wala naman sila ga-operate as a general group,” Catalogo said.

Meanwhile, as the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections are set to take place in October of this year, he said the previous baseline list of villages that are considered hotspot areas remained the same.

The NOCPPO spokesperson said that some of the villages they have on the list are the far-flung barangays in Himamaylan City and Binalbagan town.

The listed barangays are also those who have reported the presence of the New People’s Army.

There are also those who have already been lowered, as intense political rivalries have died, he said./DGB, WDJ