Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos, Jr. said yesterday he would continue to closely monitor the peace and order situation in Negros Oriental, four months after the bloodbath that killed the province’s former Governor Roel Degamo.
Abalos was in Negros Oriental on Saturday, July 8, to lead a command conference with the local police and government officials, where he urged them to work together in maintaining peace and order in the province.
“Economic development is always intertwined with peace and order,” he said during the conference.
He noted that since Degamo’s assassination and the subsequent government response to the crime, Negros Oriental’s peace and order situation has “improved,” citing PNP data that showed “decreasing numbers” of crime incidents.
“Marami nang nangyari. Ang importante, we should look forward and take control of the situation. We owe it to our province and the people of Negros,” Abalos said.
He also assured Negros Oriental residents that Degamo and nine others who were killed with him would be given justice, even as some of the former governor’s suspected gunmen recanted their statements admitting their involvement in the crime.
“Huwag kayong mag-alala, under the procedure of these agencies of government, lalabas at lalabas ang katotohanan at mamamayani ang hustisya,” Abalos said.
Negros Oriental’s peace and order situation has been in the spotlight since the Degamo slay, with his widow Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo citing this in her call to postpone the upcoming barangay elections in the province set this October.
Eight other mayors, all of whom were allied with the slain governor, also joined in the call.
But the proposal was met with resounding opposition from other local officials during the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) public consultations on the matter held from June 27 to 29.
Among those who opposed the proposed postponement were Negros Oriental Governor Manuel “Chaco” Sagarbarria, Vice Governor Jake Reyes, and Representative Jocelyn Limkaichong, congresswoman of the province’s first district.
Comelec earlier said it would come up with a decision on the proposal when the election period begins on August 28. (ABS-CBN News)