THE police here are closely monitoring the six villages in Bacolod City that have been considered by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as areas of concerns.
Senior Inspector Armilyn Vargas, spokesperson of Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO), said Tuesday, May 1, that Comelec has submitted the list of the six villages with an intense political rivalry last week.
These are Barangays Alangilan, Estefania, Villamonte, Banago, Mansilingan and Bata.
Vargas said these villages have been identified with intense political rivalry only and based on the previous elections, there were no reported election-related incidents in Bacolod.
She said the police station chiefs were directed to monitor the activities of the candidates within their areas of jurisdiction, especially the villages that have been considered as election areas of concerns.
BCPO also activated its City Election Monitoring Action Center (Cimac) in various barangays to monitor the election-related activities.
Vargas said they are still finalizing the number of personnel to be deployed for Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) or Youth Council elections.
"We will wait if there will be an augmentation personnel from the Police Regional Office-6 to maintain the peace and order on May 14," she said.
She added that BCPO will also put up advance command-post in various polling precincts to ensure peaceful elections.
At present, BCPO is on full alert status until next month.
Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Castil Jr., director of Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office, earlier said they have already identified upland barangays in four towns of Negros Occidental as election watch list areas.
The barangays are in Moises Padilla, Salvador Benedicto, Calatrava, and Toboso.
