Bacolod bets signing peace pacts today

BACOLOD CITY , Philippines — The local candidates in this city are signing a peace covenant at 4 p.m. today (Feb. 21) at the public plaza, provincial election supervisor Wil Arceño said.

Arceño urged all Bacolod candidates to join a unity parade from the Provincial Capitol Lagoon to the city’s plaza before the covenant signing, spearheaded by the Comelec and the PNP.

At the provincial level, the covenant signing will be conducted tomorrow (Feb. 22) in San Carlos City.

Colonel Oscar Lactao, commander of the 303rd Infantry Brigade based in Murcia town, said the covenant aims to ensure that all candidates will uphold a peaceful conduct of the elections.

At least 12 of the 32 towns and cities in Negros Occidental have been included in the PNP’s election watchlist areas (EWAS), he said.

Lactao said the NPA is now the biggest security threat to the May 13 elections in the province, citing the recent ambush in La Castellana town that killed eight civilians and a policeman and wounded 12 others. The NPA rebels are now “bordering from a revolutionary to a terrorist group,” he said. (FREEMAN)