Negros Occidental bets to sign peace covenants

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  â€“ The signing of peace covenants for local candidates in Negros Occidental will start this week, with the first signing slated on Friday in San Carlos City, according to the military.

Col. Oscar Lactao, commander of the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade based in Murcia town, said in a meeting of the Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Council in Kabankalan City last Friday that the peace covenants would ensure that all candidates adhere to peaceful conduct of the elections.

At least 12 of the 31 towns and cities in Negros Occidental, excluding this city, are on the election watch list of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Senior Superintendent Celestino Guara Jr., acting provincial police director, said Escalante City falls under Category 1, where candidates could likely tap private armies and engage in intense rivalries.

The cities of Cadiz, Victorias, Sipalay and Himamaylan, and the towns of Manapla, Toboso, Calatrava, Moises Padilla, Binalbagan and Ilog, on the other hand, fall under Category 2, where election-related violence may possibly take place because of the presence of armed rebels. 

This month, La Castellana town was added to the election watch list after eight civilians and a policeman were killed and 12 others were wounded in an ambush by New People’s Army guerrillas last Jan. 27.

Police are also monitoring members of eight inactive partisan armed groups in the province.

Lactao said the schedules for the signing of the peace covenants will be coordinated with the different local government units, the Social Action Centers of the different dioceses, and the local police and military units.

Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz, Western Visayas police director, said representatives of the Commission on Elections, police, military and the media, and religious leaders will also sign the peace covenants as witnesses. 

Lactao said he also met with members of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) and warned them not to bring their firearms outside of their respective areas because of the gun ban. 

There are still some 500 RPA-ABB members in the province who are waiting for the finalization of their peace agreement with the government.